| Notes |
- From Houston Chronicle, Sunday 09 Nov 2008:
James Monroe Lammons, a World War II veteran who specialized in oil and gas exploration in the Amazon Basin, has died. He was 84.
His work took him across South America and the Caribbean, where he used his expertise in geology to help companies like Atlantic, Standard and Texaco figure out where to drill.
"He loved his work," his daughter, Linda Smock, said. "He just ate and slept geology. The garage is still full of samples he kept for who knows what reason and maps all over the place."
Lammons, the sixth of seven children, was born Oct. 6, 1924, in Kansas City, Mo. His family later moved to Witchita, Kan.
The day after high school graduation, he and his brother Perry enlisted with the U.S. Marines.
"They felt it was absolutely their duty," Smock said. "They were real typical Midwestern American boys, you know, red white and blue. Very patriotic." The brothers trained together at boot camp and radio school.
Lammons, 17, became a radio gunner. He shipped out to the Marshall Islands in 1943. His 18-year-old brother, Perry, also a radio gunner, wound up in Hawaii.
In 1944, Perry Lammons died in an airplane accident. "It affected my father really deeply," Smock said.
In later years, James Lammons rarely talked about the war. It wasn't until recently, when Smock started combing through old letters and pictures that she began to comprehend what her father had been through as a soldier.
"It was kind of like the Rosetta Stone for my dad, because those were the experiences that made him what he was ? you know, the tragedy but also the love that you read in those letters, the love for his family, the love for his country, the love for his church," she said.
James Lammons attended Kansas University on the GI bill and earned a bachelor's in geology. In 1951, he took a job with Atlantic Oil Company in Venezuela, where he met his future wife, Herminia.
"There was a bit of a language barrier, but apparently that wasn't a problem for them at all," Smock said.
He learned Spanish and charmed Herminia's family. "They were not happy about the prospect of her marrying a foreigner and then leaving, but my dad just really won them over," Smock said.
James Lammons later earned a master's in geology from Wichita State University and a doctorate in micropaleontology from Michigan State University.
He became an expert in oil and gas exploration in the Amazon Basin, living with his wife and three children in Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Trinidad.
He often came home from the jungle bearing exotic gifts for his children: butterflies, native headdresses, blow darts and anaconda skins. To her father, Smock said, a rock was never just a rock.
"To me, they'd just look pretty. But he would try to teach me, 'This is iron oxide, or here's a fossil,' " she said.
Jim Lammons, Smock's brother, said he will miss his father's wealth of knowledge and intellectual curiosity.
"It was not so much trivia, but scientific knowledge of basically all genres, of all disciplines," he said.
"His knowledge of peoples and cultures was very breathtaking."
In 1978, James Lammons moved to Houston, where he worked as an oil and gas consultant.
Six years ago, he suffered a stroke and had to relearn how to walk. In his final years, Parkinson's disease further limited him physically.
He died Oct. 25 after suffering a heart attack and brain hemorrhage. He is survived by his wife, Herminia; his sister, Mary Jane Jacobs; his children, Linda Smock, James G. Lammons and John T. Lammons; and several grandchildren.
A rosary will be said today at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church, 7810 Cypresswood, in Spring from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A Mass will be celebrated Monday at 1 p.m. at the church. Interment will follow at Houston National Cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial.
- Note from James, himself:
James Monroe Lammons
Military Service - (World War II, 1942 - 1946), USMC Regular, South Pacific & China, decorated.
Education - BS University of Kansas, MS University of Wichita, PhD Michigan State University.
Retired Explorationist (World-wide), Standard Oil of New Jersey and Texaco, Inc.
Past times - Geological exploration, Gulf of Mexico, Paraguay, Colombia & Turkey.
- Note from niece, Kathryn Watts:
Yes, Uncle Jim is an paleontologist. I believe he received his PhD from the University of Michigan. As a child, I remember him studying in grandma's dark basement. He had all kinds of rocks and things. It was spooky for a little girl. (But fun too!)
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1924 - 2008 (84 years)
