R. O. (Dick) Pearce, local oil man, died on Feb. 5, 2010 at Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at First Presbyterian Church, El Dorado. Interment will follow in the Atlanta, Kan., Cemetery.
R. O. (Dick) Pearce, local oil man, was born Sept. 4, 1924, in the Augusta Hospital. The family was living in Reece, Kan., at the time. Years later the family moved to McPherson where Dick graduated from High School in 1943 and immediately joined the Navy Air Force. He served throughout World War II as an aerial photographer and mapped the islands in the Pacific and Japan.
On Oct. 7, 1944, Dick was married to Norma Bryan of McPherson in San Diego, Calif., where he was stationed at the time. He gained the rank of Airman First Class and left the Navy in 1945.
He spent the rest of his life in the oil business beginning as a salesman and district manager for Nalco Chemical Company in the McPherson and El Dorado districts.
Upon his retirement from Nalco, he joined oil man Bill Rex in the newly formed Rexaco, Inc, an oil company of producing wells in both Eastern and Western Kansas.
Dick and Norma had two children, Nancy and Bryan, while they lived in McPherson. Bryan was married to Debbie Farris of El Dorado and Nancy was married to James Carroll of Picayune, Miss.
Grandchildren include Jason Pearce, Andrea Pearce Ziser, Ryan Carroll and Aaron Carroll.
Great-grandchildren include Haley Ziser and Brett Ziser of Wichita; Nic and Hollie Pearce of Jacksonville, Fla.
Over the years, Dick served on several boards: Citizens Bank of Kansas, Kansas Oil Museum, Kansas Oil and Gas Museum in Great Bend, Presbyterian Church, Butler Boosters Club and Salvation Army.
Honors include induction into the Kansas Oil and Gas Hall of Fame, Butler County College Athletic Hall of Fame and the Western Kansas Hall of Fame in Great Bend.
In lieu of flowers, suggested memorials are to the Presbyterian Church, Butler Athletic Booster Club, the Kansas Oil Museum or the Salvation Army. These may be left with Carlson Funeral Home, El Dorado, which is assisting the family with the arrangements. Condolences to the family can be sent to www.carlsoncolonial.com.
