Some Words to Honor Gene PolkWritten by R.K. Brown, Global B.D. Manager

Gene has been a close personal friend of mine since I met him at my first Baroid IDP Customer Mud School in January of 1981. I wanted to take some time to write a narrative of Gene’s life from both my own recollections and from conversations I’ve recently had with Gene’s daughter, Sani Withers. However, after I read through it, I realize that it doesn’t begin to convey how special a man he was. Gene was such a big man inside, but always came across as so humble and approachable. I have never met someone with so much drive. The words “no” and “can’t” held no meaning to Gene.

S.E. (Gene) Polk grew up in West Texas and joined the Navy during WWII. He was a gunner’s mate and worked inside the 16 inch gun turrets on the battleship USS New Jersey. Gene supported combat operations in the Pacific during the invasion of the Pacific islands, including Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Always a scrappy fighter, Gene began boxing at a young age and continued that aboard the ship. Each ship in the battle group had a team of boxers as an effort to build esprit de corps. As the war went on, Gene was recognized by the ship’s captain as “his winning man” and he gave Gene the opportunity to work out and jog around the ship whenever he could. Even in the middle of the war, there were organized boxing matches every Friday night aboard the New Jersey, or another ship in the battle group. When the fights were on another ship, Gene and his captain would board a small motor launch and go to the other ship where they would be hoisted aboard. Gene said he would get seasick in the small boat and would still be groggy (or worse) when he walked into the ring, but that didn’t matter when the bell sounded and the fight was on. All of his shipmates (and probably the Captain) had bet on him, and Gene was a fierce competitor. In 1945, Gene was the middleweight Pacific Fleet Champion boxer in the U.S. Navy, fighting almost 100 fights with a perfect, undefeated record. You could say Gene was a pretty tough guy. Here is a picture of Gene (on the right) with his buddies from 1943 during WWII before departing on a troop train for the coast.

Returning stateside after the war, Gene attended the University of New Mexico as a Geology major. He played football as a walk-on at UNM and became a standout linebacker and tight end. On the day he was taking his final exams at UNM, one of his professors introduced him to Sam Geffen from Baroid. Sam was on campus looking to hire geologists to work as mud loggers in the oilfield. He hired Gene that day and Gene started at Baroid the day after his final exams, even before graduation. This was the beginning of a 63 year career in the drilling industry.

A year after he graduated, Gene married the UNM football coach’s daughter, Sally Degroot, in 1952. Besides being a nationally ranked swimmer and diver, Sally, or Sal, was on the rodeo team and competed as a barrel racer. Gene and Sal lived in a small travel trailer for many years while Gene worked from job to job, following drill rigs around the U.S. Shortly after that, they began a family that would include five of their own children. Lynn, one of their daughters, said Gene and Sal had five kids that were each born in a different state. They also began taking in foster children who needed another chance; something they would do for the rest of their lives. Some children had no parents; others had problems with drugs or alcohol, or had behavioral problems. Every child they took in was treated as one of their own. They moved to Farmington, New Mexico in 1959 where Gene worked as the District Engineer and District Manager for Baroid. While in Farmington, Gene started the boxing program at the Boys Club where he coached and refereed boxing and wrestling. In 1976, they moved to Albuquerque where Gene continued to coach youth boxing and wrestling. Gene coached several U.S. Golden Glove Champion boxers, as well as NCAA level wrestlers which included his son, Staff, who was a boxer as well as a U.S. NCAA wrestling champion. After moving to Albuquerque, Gene and Sal bought an old church camp in the Sandia Mountains. They rebuilt several buildings that allowed them to take in more foster children. Eventually, Gene and Sal raised over 100 foster kids and changed many lives in the process. They were also very well known for running a sanctuary for injured animals, which included eagles, hawks, owls, dogs, cats and horses. Gene and Sal were married 56 years. Sal passed away in 2008.

In 1962, Gene and others began doing field work with Longyear and Boyles Brothers (now part of Layne), and similar companies who previously had only used grease and water as their drilling fluid program. Dr. George Gray was one of the people working with Gene. Dr. Gray managed the Baroid lab in Houston and was a co-author of “Composition and Properties of Drilling and Completion Fluids”. Using what they learned on these early field visits with Dr. Gray, Gene and Sam Geffen urged Baroid to begin a specialized training program for their experienced oilfield engineers. They wanted the program to have a focus on developing the drilling fluid market in mineral exploration drilling and water well drilling. This effort was the genesis of what would become Baroid Industrial Drilling Products (IDP). During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Baroid continued to be a leader in the mineral exploration and water well industry. This time also marked the beginning of the QUIK-GEL® viscosifier Retailer network; which is now the Baroid IDP Distributor Network. These were boom times for Baroid in the copper exploration business located in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, as well as the uranium exploration business centered in Grants, New Mexico and the Colorado Plateau. While Gene was the District Manager in Farmington, he hired a roughneck from Carmack Drilling named Dave Donald to work in Grants, New Mexico. Gene told me a story about one of his management experiences at this point in his life. He managed a large operation in Farmington and it was challenging to reach people after hours when material was needed to be delivered to far flung places - keep in mind, this was prior to the age of pagers or cell phones. Gene became so frustrated that he called his truck drivers together in a meeting and told them that they needed to remain more accessible at all times, even during their “off hours”. He went on to say that anyone who “wasn’t willing to do that should just get up right now and leave.” To Gene’s disbelief, all 12 of his truck drivers quit. Gene went back to his desk and tried to come up with a plan when the phones started ringing and about 10 urgent orders came in. Gene got in his car and drove to each of his truck drivers’ homes to clear the air, and worked out a plan that would give each of them a good balance of duty time and off time. In the end, all of the mud was delivered and all parties came to a mutual agreement. Gene said that was the point in his career that he truly learned that no manager could succeed without the buy-in of others.

During Gene’s career with Baroid, he was instrumental in conceiving, developing and delivering training programs as a way to bring technology to the mineral exploration and water well industries. Gene also focused on the geothermal market which he considered underserved in the drilling industry. He worked closely with Carl Mason and Sam Geffen to develop the Baroid IDP annual customer training program, which just completed its 50th consecutive year. Gene was also instrumental in mentoring many people currently with Baroid IDP. Dave Donald, Ron Peterson, Bill Harder, Dwaine Hussey, Joe Dobry and I were all fortunate to be associated with Gene during much of our careers in this business. Gene took a special interest in mentoring several people still affiliated with Baroid IDP - Ed Anderson, Jeff Blinn, Gary Williams, Kirby Donald, Chris Burnell and Jack Sowers. During his career with Baroid, Gene traveled the U.S. and the world conducting training to several thousand drillers, helpers, owners, supervisors, regulators and Baroid employees. Gene was recognized as an authority in drilling fluids for the non-oilfield drilling fluid market, which included innovations in drilling fluids used in the mining industry to drill extremely large diameter shaft and high temperature geothermal drilling fluids. He lead a five year study on drill hole abandonment in the uranium exploration areas of the Grants Uranium Belt and Colorado Plateau. Following that study, Gene worked with many states to develop their hole abandonment procedures for both water well and mineral exploration drilling.

A scientist at heart, Gene believed in doing the research to understand the dynamics behind a problem before devoting resources to “treat the symptom”. This type of thinking from Gene and his work with Dr. Gray led to the development of many specialized products, including QUIK-GEL viscosifier. This also helped to mold the Baroid IDP culture in regards to the interaction between the field and the lab. Much of Baroid IDP’s current training programs use Gene’s materials and syllabus as a foundation. He was a big believer in documenting work done in the field so that it can be used to justify our business relationship and competency with a client. In addition to the many case histories and project summaries Gene wrote for Baroid, he also authored dozens of technical papers associated with mining engineering, geology and geologic engineering. Furthermore, he worked closely with national laboratories, such as Sandia Labs, Los Alamos Labs and Livermore Labs, to develop innovative products and technologies related to drilling fluids.

One of the most successful salespeople to ever work in the Baroid group, Gene was unfazed by aggressive customers. There were many times when Gene would be turned down by a potential client. However, he would be found parked at that client’s front door the following morning for another try. Gene just never gave up. When Gene sold an account, it was pretty much his because of the exceptional care he gave to his customers. Gene’s customers would support him to incredible lengths. Except for a seven year hiatus when Gene and colleagues formed Desert Drilling Fluids (which was sold to Baroid in 1996), Gene spent his entire career working for Baroid. He spent the last few years working from his beloved home in Sandia Park.

Outside of his many accomplishments while working with Baroid, Gene was active in several state water well associations and trade associations, including the Northwest Mining Association (now the American Exploration and Mining Association) for many years. Gene was “old school”. He believed in people, and he believed in doing things right. If you met Gene, he never forgot who you were and what you did. He knew his customers’ families and would often be the first one to call an associate or customer if a personal matter developed. He showed up at the delivery room when my son was born, and was the first person to call me when my father passed away. Three things mattered most to Gene: family, friends and God. Above all, Gene was an honorable man who lived a rich and complete life in the service to others. This is all that Gene would ever want said about him, and I’m honored to be able to say it. I will miss him deeply.

Upon his passing, Gene received full Military Honors from a Navy Honor Guard unit at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, followed by a celebration of his life by friends and family at Mountain Christian Church in Sandia Park, New Mexico.

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