Warren Commission (09 of 26): Hearings Vol. IX (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (09 of 26): Hearings Vol. IX (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. JENNER. Now, this Rangely Engineering Committee was formed by the
various oil companies?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And they were operating in the Rangely, Colo., oil field,
is that correct?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And for the purpose of compiling statistics and engineering
data for the entire field?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No, yes; this and also to allocate production to
various wells in the field, because we didn't have any regulatory body
in Colorado at the time. We actually applied a certain formula to each
well to see how much each well would be allowed to produce. This was
our main job, you know.
Then, of course, our job was to coordinate the technical advances in
that field and promote the new methods of drilling producing, to cut
down expenses in the field. Among other things, we introduced diamond
drilling there, drilling with diamond bits, which eventually became
very, very successful.
Mr. JENNER. Now, this was what--1947?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 1946, 1947. I stayed there, I think, about 3-1/2
years, something like that. 3 years, maybe.
Mr. JENNER. Now, at this time you met and married your second wife, did
you not?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Phyllis Washington?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Now, tell us about that a little bit.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I went on a vacation to New York, met a very
pretty girl, and she was willing to follow me in the wilderness
of Colorado, which she did. She was young and a little bit wild.
But very, very attractive and adventurous. And she came with me to
Colorado--without being married.
Her father was with the State Department, Walter Washington.
But I didn't know him.
Mr. JENNER. She was an adopted child?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Her name originally was Wasserman?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; something like that. And she was a beautiful
girl who decided to come to Colorado with me. She stayed with me, we
fell in love. She created a terrible confusion in Colorado. Imagine
an international beauty with bikinis. I don't know if it is for the
record. With bikinis, walking around the oil fields. But she was a
wonderful girl, wonderful girl. She gave up the possibility of going to
Spain, where her father was appointed charge d' affaires at the time.
She decided she would rather stay with me in Colorado in the wilderness.
And I will tell you, that was a terrible place. That was the last
boomtown in America. Rangely, the last boomtown in the United States.
We lived in shacks, we lived in 40-degree below zero temperature, mud.
It is the roughest place you ever saw in your life.
Mr. JENNER. You eventually tired of Rangely, Colo., and moved over to
Aspen, did you not?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; I didn't move to Aspen. I just had a little
cabin in Aspen. I had a cabin in Aspen, and would go there on weekends.
But then I became chairman.
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