DeGolyer, Nell Goodrich, 1886-1972

Nell Virginia Goodrich DeGolyer was born on November 11, 1886 in New Florence, Missouri, the first of six children. Her parents, Hugh G. Goodrich, a dentist, and Emma Goodrich, eventually moved the family to Norman, Oklahoma, a college town, so their children would have access to higher education. Later, Nell would speak proudly of her family, education was an ideal.

Mrs. DeGolyer graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1906 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano. In 1907 she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy also from the University of Oklahoma. Before she graduated, however, she worked as a pianist in the School of Fine Arts and also graded papers for the German Department. Later, after she graduated, Nell Goodrich continued to teach piano at the University.

Nell Goodrich supposedly met Everette Lee DeGolyer when she graded some of his German papers. Campus publications teased DeGolyer about his open courtship of the accomplished and golden-haired Nell Goodrich. Letters written to Nell Goodrich by DeGolyer during his summer and fall absences working for the U.S. Geological Survey indicate the growing seriousness of their romance. When young DeGolyer accepted a position as field geologist for the Mexican Eagle Oil Company in 1909, he had to postpone his graduation and marriage.

After less than six months in Mexico, however, DeGolyer took leave from his work and traveled to Norman to marry Nell on June 10, 1910. They both returned to Mexico after the wedding. In July of that same year, the famous Potrero del Llano #4 oil well came in, located by E.L. DeGolyer a few months before. The well became the greatest oil producing well in the world and a benchmark in DeGolyer's successful career as a petroleum geologist and businessman. In 1911, the DeGolyer's first child died following birth in Mexico. In 1913, Mrs. DeGolyer returned to Oklahoma to give successful birth to her next child, Virginia Nell.

In 1916, DeGolyer moved his business operations to New York, and the family moved into a house in nearby Montclair, New Jersey. They lived in three different residences in New Jersey, the last they built in 1929 on 120 Lloyd Road. Mrs. DeGolyer gave birth to three more children in Montclair: Dorothy Margaret (1916), Cecilia Jeanne (1919), and Everett Lee, Jr. (1923). Nell DeGolyer managed a large house and nurtured four children while contending with her husband's burgeoning career and many absences from home.

In 1936, Mr. DeGolyer relocated the family to Dallas, Texas so that he would be closer to his business interests. In 1939, the DeGolyers built a home, Rancho Encinal, on forty-four acres on Garland Road near White Rock Lake in Dallas. Built in a Spanish hacienda style, the house was surrounded by gardens designed by Arthur Berger of Dallas. This home was their last, except for a brief period during World War II when Mrs. DeGolyer maintained a temporary residence in Washington, D.C. while her husband served as the Deputy Assistant Administrator of Petroleum.

One of Mrs. DeGolyer's abiding passions was gardening. Her gardens in New Jersey and Dallas served as elaborate backdrops to the many receptions and parties held for her husband's business associates, friends, and the many civic enterprises in which Mrs. DeGolyer was involved. Among Mrs. DeGolyer's activities were Planned Parenthood, a chapter of which she founded, and the Dallas League of Women Voters, of which she was a founding member. She served on the board of Trustees for the Wadley Research Institute and Blood Bank and was board member of the Middle East Institute.

After her husband's death in 1956, Mrs. DeGolyer served as President on the DeGolyer Foundation Board which administered philanthropic grants and maintained the great western history library amassed by Everette DeGolyer. After Mrs. DeGolyer's death, the library, its endowment, and the DeGolyer Estate on Garland Road, as well as Nell DeGolyer's private papers, were donated to Southern Methodist University. The house and grounds were eventually sold to the City of Dallas and now form a part of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society. Tours of the house and gardens are available.

Nell Goodrich DeGolyer died on May 3, 1972 in Dallas at the age of 85.

From the guide to the Nell Goodrich DeGolyer papers Mss 0056., 1896-1978, (DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University)