 |
Edward H. 'Ed' Shuler Los Angeles, CA Glendale, CA Bakersfield, CA Houston, TX El Monta, CA Burlingame, CA Ventura, CA QCWA # 12566 Chapter 99 |
EDWARD H. SHULER
July 21, 1923- August 20, 2020
Ed was born in Los Angeles, the sixth of seven children of Robert P. and Nelle Reeves Shuler. His father was a Methodist minister who had a major influence on the politics and morality of Los Angeles in the twenties and thirties and was a candidate for both the U.S. Senate and Congress. He was known as "Fighting Bob" Shuler for his penchant to take on all comers regardless of the odds. He was one of the first radio ministers, broadcasting throughout the West on his own station, KGEF.
Ed graduated from El Monte Union High School in 1941, where he was a four-year letterman in football. He received a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Southern California while a member of the Navy V-12 program, completed his midshipman training and received his commission at Columbia University in 1944 and served on a U.S. Navy minesweeper in the Pacific Theatre. After the war, he returned to USC on the G.I. bill and received his M.S. degree in Geology. His master's thesis was purchased by the state of California and was utilized in producing the official geologic map of California. While a graduate student at USC, Ed was selected as a member of the U.S. government-sponsored team of scientists that surveyed Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1947, one year after the atomic bomb tests.
Ed married Colleen Stewart in 1946 ("the best thing I ever did"). They were married for 70 years. Ed is survived by four children: Edward Harvey Shuler of Placentia, CA; Peggy Dement of Garland, TX; Wiley S. Shuler of San Marcos, TX and James D. Shuler, MD of Kamas, UT. Ed is survived by nine grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren.
Ed began his career in the oil industry in 1948 as a petroleum engineer with Pacific Western Oil Corp., a predecessor of Getty Oil. He served in a number of engineering and management capacities in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Francisco, Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada), Louisiana, and Texas before being elected Vice President of oil and gas production for Getty Oil Company at corporate headquarters. He was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of Getty's Western Division with headquarters in Bakersfield in 1973, and in 1982 was promoted to Group Vice President for Exploration and Production with offices in Los Angeles. He retired in 1984 as a result of the Getty/Texaco merger and he and Colleen returned to Bakersfield because "our friends were there."
Ed has been involved in numerous professional, civic and community activities. While in Ventura from 1961 to 1969, he was president of the Greater Ventura Chamber of Commerce, director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Association, the Ventura Economic Development Association and the United Fund, .and was a member of the Ventura City Planning Commission. In Bakersfield, Ed was a director of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for 26 years, past presidents of the Bakersfield Rotary Club, the Quest Club, the Bakersfield Country Club, the Western Oil and Gas Association, and the Petroleum Production Pioneers. He is a former director of Mitsubishi Oil Company (Japan), the American Petroleum Institute, Bakersfield College Foundation, the Southern Sierra Council of the BSA and the Bob Pyles Boys Camp. He is a former member of Rotary Five (Los Angeles), the Jonathon Club, the Los Angeles Club and Lakeside Country Club. He was a registered Professional Geologist and Petroleum Engineer for the state of California.
Ed was especially proud of his family. He spent many happy hours hunting and fishing with his three sons and son-in-law and more recently, his grandsons. He celebrated his 81st birthday fly-fishing in Alaska with all of the boys in the family. He was an extra-class amateur radio operator with the call sign K6DT. He enjoyed duplicate bridge and golf and regularly played at BCC.
Ed and Colleen were active members of First Presbyterian Church of Bakersfield and enjoyed their many friends there. They started their married life organizing the "Mr. and Mrs. Sunday School" class at Trinity Methodist Church in Los Angeles and have been deeply involved in similar church related activities ever since. They have been Methodist, American Baptist, Canadian Baptist, Southern Baptist and Presbyterian and enjoyed them all. God has always been the center of their family.
Our heart felt appreciation goes out to Norma Reyes of Agape In Home Care for providing such love and care to both Ed and Colleen Shuler in their final years of life.
Published in Bakersfield Californian from Aug. 22 to Aug. 24, 2020.
DX checking at SP5BBG