Former Chanute resident Carl Buel Edington, 90, died Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010.
He was born Aug. 7, 1920, in Burkett, Texas, to Joseph Dyes “Jodie” and Ida Ola (Nations) Edington. The family resided in Coleman County, Texas, where he finished high school at Burkett in 1937. He would go on to earn a petroleum and geology degree in an 11-year period.
On May 13, 1939, he married Dorothy Johnson at the old Methodist Church in Cross Plains, Texas. To support his family he went to work in the Phillips Dodge mines in Bixby, Ariz., until 1945 where he was mine safety inspector for the last two years. He was drafted into the U.S. Army where he served as a military policeman until his discharge due to reduction of troops in December 1945. After the war he did well site drilling and completion work for various companies in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Utah. In 1954 he formed a partnership with James E. Russell in Abilene, Texas, and from that firm they operated a core laboratory in Abilene and performed core analysis for firms in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.
With the purchase of Oilfield Research Laboratory in Chanute, he became executive vice president in charge of all operations in Kansas. In March 1980 he retired from the active oil field. He returned to Cross Plains in November 1995. Having become a Mason in 1946, he was a past Master and he became a York Rite Mason in 1949. He became a new member of Cross Plains Lodge No. 627. In 2002 he was voted the recipient of the elite Golden Trowel Award by fellow Masons. It was through that Masonic connection he became acquainted with former President Harry Truman. It was through heritage he was acquainted with former President Lyndon B. Johnson, having been his second cousin. He enjoyed golf.
He is survived by a sister, Lucille Edington Barr and husband, Ance, Coleman, Texas; daughter-in-law, Sarah Edington, Alabama; son-in-law, Harold Landrum, Waco, Texas; granddaughters, Ashley Walker and Amber and Kasi Edington; grandsons, Darin Landrum and David Landrum, Mansfield, Texas; eight great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews and friend and personal caregiver, Geneva Nelson, Cross Plains.
His wife, son and a daughter, died earlier.
Funeral services were this afternoon at Higginbotham Funeral Chapel in Cross Plains. Bob Pipes and the Rev. Harris Worcester officiated. Military and Masonic rites will be performed at Dressy Cemetery.
Memorials to Cross Plains emergency medical services or Cross Plains Volunteer Fire Department may be sent to the funeral home, 309 N.E. 4th St., Cross Plains, TX 76443.
Carl Edington
