Rouse was born on September 18, 1892, in Denver, Colorado. He completed high school in1909 and entered Brown University. There he studied mechanical engineering and received his Bachelor of Science in 1913. He then went to work for the Standard Oil Company refinery in Bayonne, New Jersey. By 1914, he moved to Trinidad, Colorado, to work with the Continental Oil Company as a salesman and then as an assistant refinery superintendent. In 1918 Rouse joined the Midwest Refining Company, which later was taken over by the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, as superintendent of the lubricating department. He eventually became assistant general manager of manufacturing. He was also the general superintendent of the refinery and in 1931 was named the manager of the Rocky Mountain division.
In 1943, Rouse became the district director of construction for the Petroleum Administration for War. In 1944 he worked with the Navy Department Secretary’s committee on Public Works Projects. Rouse became the manager of the manufacturing department at Stanolind Oil & Gas Company in 1945. He later became the vice president of that company in 1953. In 1957 he became president of the Utah Southern Oil Company.
In addition to his work in the oil industry, Rouse held a life long interest in the cattle industry. He bought a 320-acre farm near Genoa, Illinois, in 1932 and later, in 1955, after his retirement, he traded this farm for an Angus-stocked ranch in Wyoming. In the early 1960s Rouse began work on a comprehensive, illustrated study of cattle breeds of world. The book covered cattle breeds, raising methods, slaughtering and marketing practices, and various curiosities. Starting in 1963, Rouse visited 72 nations and every continent of the globe.
Rouse married Bess Archer on August 28, 1916, and they had two children together, John Taylor and Martha. They were later divorced. He married Roma McCormick in 1956. John E. Rouse died on November 27, 1990.
From the guide to the John E. Rouse papers, 1912-1987, (University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.)
