WILLIAM H. TONKING12319 Rip Van Winkle, Houston, Texas 77024

TOM FREEMAN Geology Building, University o f Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211

Henry Silliman McQueen, affectionately called “Diz” by his friends, died January 4, 1986, in Houston, Texas. Henry was born in Clarksville, Missouri, May 31,1900, to Thomas Stuart and Harriett Silliman McQueen. An ancestor, James McQueen, was a Revolutionary W ar patriot who migrated from what is now Ohio, through Kentucky, to the territory of Missouri. Henry’s maternal grandfather, William L. Silliman, left Connec­ticut at the age of 17 and walked to Missouri where he settled in the Clarksville area. He later fought in the Civil War with the Union Army.

Henry spent a pleasant boyhood in Clarksville, then a town of 5,000 in “Mark Twain country.” The family moved to Kansas City while Henry was in his teens. He attended high school there and matriculated at the University of Missouri in 1918. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree in geology in

1922, and the Master of Arts in 1923. He was very proud of his middle name, which was a hand-me-down from his great uncle, distinguished Yale geologist Benjamin Silliman. Henry claimed that it was this legacy that kindled his interest in geology.

Following graduation, Henry began a long association with the Missouri Geological Survey that continued until, in 1943, he was retained as a consultant by the Aluminum Company of America. While with the Missouri Survey in 1934, Henry was convinced by a junior senator from Missouri that a number of the senator’s constituents would make excellent survey-crew members. That senator, Harry S. Truman, became the 33rd President of the United States.

While at the University of Missouri, Henry met Eleanor Jameson, of Fulton, Missouri. They married on June 3, 1924. A daughter, Sally McQueen Squire, was born June 29, 1928. The McQueens celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary prior to Eleanor’s death April 8, 1978. They were a close and wonderful couple who very much enjoyed being together.

Henry and family moved to New York in January, 1944, when he was appointed chief geologist and manager of exploration for Alcoa. Under his direction, Alcoa made substantial investments in exploration projects and the purchase of properties. The McQueens moved to Houston, Texas, in January 1947, after Henry’s planning prompted the construction, at Port Lavaca, Texas, of one of the largest industrial plants on the Gulf Coast. It was in Texas that Henry developed Alcoa’s extensive oil and gas reserves; those in Jackson and Calhoun counties are examples.

The nickname “Diz,” or “Dizzy,” was acquired while pledging to Beta Theta Pi social fraternity in 1918. A fraternity brother thought that he was “the dizziest freshman to hit the university”; also, a nickname was needed to distinguish him from another Henry in his pledge class. A very good friend, David “Shady” Searles, who was a senior partner in the prestigious Houston law firm of Vinson, Elkins, Searles, and Smith, worked closely with Henry in recommending the Port Lavaca project to the Alcoa board of directors. Legend has it that Alcoa’s board chairman quipped to other members that they were about to approve the largest single capital expenditure in the history of the company based upon the advice of a geologist named Dizzy and an attorney called Shady.

Memorial to Henry Silliman McQueen1900-1986

2 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Henry left Alcoa in 1951 to become executive vice president, chief geologist, and director of Salt Dome Production Company in Houston, where he led their exploration effort for 10 years. He is credited with establishing Salt Dome’s oil and gas production in several Texas Gulf Coast counties and in Montana as well. He became an independent geological consultant in 1960 and continued his practice and interest in geology until his death.

In 1957, Henry was honored as “one of the outstanding geologists of our time” by the University of Missouri when he was awarded a Citation of Merit for Outstanding Achievement and Meritorious Service in Arts and Science. This award cited his pioneering methods and procedures in the use of insoluble residues in stratigraphic correlations, his stimulation and direction in the research of others, and his direction of exploration in minerals and petroleum geology.

Henry negotiated several mining concessions with the Jamaican government, including prospects for copper and precious metals in the mountains between Port Antonio and Kingston, Jamaica. For several years prior to Eleanor’s death, the couple spent considerable time in Port Antonio; they rented a beautiful home on the coast, overlooking a small island once owned by Errol Flynn. This was an idyllic location for Henry and Eleanor, who were happy entertaining friends and just being together.

Henry was unique in that he was successful in exploration for both petroleum and minerals. His professional affiliations, which illustrate his broad interest, included the Society of Economic Geologists, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1937 and was a founding member of the American Geological Institute.

During the last two years of his very active life, Henry suffered from a degenerative nerve disease that confined him to a wheelchair. This handicapped him to the extent that he was unable to satisfy his most fervent desire—one last visit to Jamaica. His experiences in the West Indies in the 1940s fostered in Henry a love for the islands and their people that remained with him until his death.

In 1977, he was awarded a 50-year membership certificate and pin by the AIME in Houston. Following a short acceptance address, he was asked by a young geologist, “How can one reach a half-century membership?” Henry replied, “Join the organization at an early age, and always be the first one down the mountain.”

No one enjoyed life and friends more than did “Diz,” nor did anyone have mre fun at work and at play. We will forever remember the omnipresent mischievous twinkle in his eyes, his contagious smile, and his favorite exclamation: “Wow.”

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF H. S. McQUEEN1928 The Geology of Northwestern Missouri: Missouri Geological Survey and Water Resources,

2d series, v. 25, 217 p.____ (and Forbes, C. R.) Mining of diaspore and flint clays in Missouri: Mining and Metallurgy,

v. 9, p. 271-275.1929 Mineral Production of Missouri: Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines, Biennial Report of

the State Geologist, p. 23-92.____ Geologic relations of the diaspore and flint clays of Missouri: American Ceramic Society

Journal, v. 12, p. 687-697.1931 Insoluble residues as a guide in stratigraphic studies: Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines

Biennial Report of the State Geologist, p. 102-131.1936 Economic Application of the Insoluble Residue Method: American Institute of Mining and

Metallurgy, Engineering Technical Publication 724,12 p.1937 The Dutchtown, a New Lower Ordovician Formation in Southeastern Missouri: Missouri

Geological Survey and Water Resources, 59th Biennial Report, 27 p.

MEMORIAL TO HENRY SILLIMAN McQUEEN 3____ (and Aid, K.) Rock Wool Resources in Central Missouri: Missouri Geological Survey and

Water Resources, 59th Biennial Report, 24 p.____ (and Schrenk, W. T., and Stout, E. L.) Occurrence of Strontium Minerals in Perry and

Cape Girardeau Counties, Missouri: Geological Survey and Water Resources, 59th Biennial Report, l i p .

1938 (and Greene, F. C.) The Geology of Northwestern Missouri: Missouri Geological Survey and Water Resources, 2d series, v. 25, 215 p.

1939 Geology of the Forest City Basin (abs.): Oil Weekly, v. 93, p. 74.1941 (and Hinchey, N. S., and Aid, K.) The Lincoln fold in Lincoln, Pike, and Ralls counties,

northeastern Missouri: Kansas Geological Society Guidebook, 15th Annual Field Conference, p. 99-110.

1943 Occurrence of Dolomite in the Fredericktown Area, Madison County, Missouri: Missouri Geological Survey and Water Resources, 62d Biennial Report, Appendix 2 ,16 p.

____ Geology of the Fire Clay Districts of East Central Missouri: Missouri Geological Survey andWater Resources, 2d series, v. 28, 250 p.

Printed in U .S A 8 /87