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Submitted: 3/24/17 • Approved: 3/24/17 • Last Updated: 3/25/18 • R117557-G0-S3
1933 - 2015
Last of The Great Wildcatters
*Obituary - Dan R. Frantzen
On January 15, 1933, a little boy, Danie “Dan” Ray Frantzen, was born into a post-depression world in Fredericksburg, Texas, bereft of financial security and without much hope. Dan was scrawny, and he became scrappy to survive. He hoped to be a professional jockey, and he raced horses that nearly killed him. Dan was a “late bloomer,” and he suddenly grew over 6 feet tall, which ended his dream of jockeying horses. He became a football player to carry himself and a pigskin out of poverty into a more hopeful future of professional football.
In his last high school football game before he was going to attend college on a football scholarship, Dan shattered his knee, which ended his dream of playing football. Thereafter, Dan decided to study mining engineering in college. While doing post-graduate work deep in a uranium mine, where he despised heat, Dan realized his decision to become a mining engineer was flawed. Dan returned to University of Texas to earn a Master’s Degree in geology to pursue a dream of wildcats, gushers, and massive wealth creation.
64 years ago, Dan met his best friend for life, Joe Klutts, who was a fellow geology student. He also met a young lady, Nita, who would become his bride and the mother of their children, Blayne, Garron, and Kohlie. Collectively, Dan, Nita, and Joe formed the basic ingredients of a magical solution catalyzed by a young man named Jimmy Stone, who was a courageous U.S. Marine with a Purple Heart and who was trained uniquely for a mission greater than himself.
Together, Dan and Jimmy formed Stone Oil to find high-potential, conventional oil & gas-condensate projects in on-shore South Louisiana. They recognized they needed a team to fulfill the Herculean effort necessary to execute their long-term vision, and they gathered the best minds and tireless people to march confidently into the world of legend. Joe Klutts, Jim Prince, Pete Gray, Pete Canty, Don Chunn, Mike Finch, Lavada Braun, Syble Charlot and countless others chose to join the effort, and the little company magnificently overcame every obstacle imaginable to deliver a future untainted by doubt and fear. They found the largest reserves nobody believed could be possible in places they dared to explore. Today, that company is a publicly traded company, Stone Energy, and it is demonstrative of entrepreneurship and innovation that Lafayette, Louisiana, uniquely offers the world.
Following his career with Stone, Dan was blessed with another wonderful woman, Claire Delahoussaye, who became his second wife in 2000 and tirelessly offered love and compassion as Dan continued in the world of independent wildcat exploration. He went on to find reserves according to the same drilling philosophy he applied to prospects since the late 1950s, and he never yielded from his belief that there are much larger reservoirs to be found in Louisiana than those that have already been discovered.
Dan often reflected on the unexpected twists and turns of life, and he lived by the unwavering rule that adversities were the building blocks of opportunities in life. He relentlessly shared that message in letters, quotes, and otherwise in any way possible to help people overcome fear and doubt that Dan believed were seductive illusions preventing people from finding joy in life. In 2008, following his career as a mining engineer, geologist, and petroleum engineer with more than five decades of oil and gas industry experience, Dan authored a book, “Ode of an Oilman- A Life Examined,” in which he offered motivational and inspirational thoughts and ideas based on his life that he wanted to “share with others after I pass the baton.”
Dan died on September 8, 2015. He died as triumphantly as he ever lived, surrounded by the most gorgeous geology and maps he ever created. He spent the last years of his life correlating logs and chasing his last, great prospect that would be bigger than anything he ever found. To spend time with him in the end was to gain an education on things like “the Miogyp,” “the Cib Haz,” “turbidites,” “horsts and grabens,” “trapping faults,” “resistivity,” “bright-spot anomalies,” and terms like “a trillion cubic feet.” He was positive there was never a better time than right now to gamble on oil and gas, and he died doing what he loved best - pitching the deal of a lifetime and swinging for the bleachers with boundless courage and optimism in the absence of fear and doubt.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2015 from 1:00 PM until 8:00 PM in Martin & Castille's DOWNTOWN Location.
Dan leaves to cherish his memory, one daughter, Blayne Frantzen; two sons, Garron Frantzen, and Kohlar "Kohlie" Frantzen and his wife, Elise; mother of his children and dear friend, Nita D. Frantzen; former wife and dear friend, Claire Frantzen; one brother, Gary Frantzen and his wife, Greta; four grandchildren, Tolson, Story, Ella, and Arden Frantzen; and his best friend for life, Joe Klutts.
Dan was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Margaret Baker Frantzen; and his half brother, Lanis Bosworth.
Contributed on 3/24/17 by ashaw444
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Record #: 117557