Tracing the Industry

In Memory of...

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Doug Gillrie after a long courageous battle with diabetes. He was born on September 17, 1944 in Didsbury, Alberta. He is pre deceased by his brother Randy Gillrie in 1976 and brother Laurie Gillrie in 1985. Doug is survived by his loving wife of thirty-seven years, Carol Gillrie (nee Clay); son Clay Gillrie and Monika Rusak of Vancouver, B.C., grandchildren, Hannah and Isaish Rusak Gillrie; son Todd Gillrie and Sheila Fuller of Calgary, Alberta, and grandchildren, Joshua and Jessica Gillrie. Doug is also survived by his father George (Angie) Gillrie; mothers Alice Ramm and Helen Gillrie; brothers, Barry and Richard Gillrie; and sisters, Debbie (Brian) Ritz and Cherie Johnstone. Doug was a loving husband, nurturing father and the best grandpa. Doug was an eternal optimist, he loved life and he loved to laugh. Doug was a good friend to many people; he had a big shoulder and a big heart. After battling the demons of diabetes for many years, he is finally at peace – he can see again, he can golf all day and he can keep watch over all of us. Doug will be missed more than words can say but his memory will always be with us who he touched so profoundly.

On the Move...

Geomodeling Technology Corp. continues to grow! This summer, our software company welcomed five new staff members to our North American offices.

The Calgary office is joined by:

• Wil Ahart, Sales Executive
• Karl Mirotchnik, Geological/Geophysical Technical Support
• Wanda Posehn, Marketing Director
• Rongfeng Zhang, Senior Research Scientist

In the Houston office, we welcome:

• Eric Haig, Director of Marketing & Business Development

We look forward to working with our new team members to bring Geomodeling’s seismic interpretation and reservoir modeling software to international markets.

Matt Hall has left the consulting world and joined ConocoPhillips Canada as a geoscientist in their Oil Sands division. He can be reached at hallmt@conocophillips.com.

Steve Syme has joined the foothills seismic enthusiasts at Thrust Belt Imaging. Steve brings 14 years of data processing experience, mostly with Veritas and briefly with Sensor. You can catch up with Steve at 619-9824 or steve@thrustbeltimaging.com.

Carmen claimed she was low on announcements this month so Andy Marshall agreed to mention that he has moved from Boyd PetroSearch to EnCana. He may now be reached at 1.403.645.6584 or at andrew.marshall@encana.com.

Steve Vasey, Dave Golding and Chris St. Clair have formed a new seismic data company, VGS Database International, located in downtown Calgary. VGS will focus on seismic data creation, ownership and marketing in Canada. The principals of VGS bring over 60 years of experience in the seismic data industry.

You can contact the “data guys” at the VGS office 263-6050 or:

Steve Vasey 813-7788
Dave Golding 681-5355
Chris St. Clair 616-1644

David Richard formerly of Paradigm and Kelman has founded an E&P startup called FX Energy Ltd. and can be reached at 298-4862 or 818-7554 and drichard@fxenergyltd.com.

Nicholas Kaprowski has left GEDCO and taken a position at Husky Energy in their East Central Plans Group. He can be reached by email at Nicholas.Kaprowski@huskyenergy.ca or by phone at 298-6826.

Looking for Information...

T. H. (Chief) Edwards was known as a “doodler” all of his life. Chief served with the R.C.A.F. and planned to go to art school after his discharge. He got sidetracked and ended up being hired on in the 1940’s as a driller’s helper on a Heisland seismic crew. Chief drew cartoons for seismic books as well as safety illustrations and continued to work on the seismic crews. Chief’s paintings reside at Fort Calgary and some of his cartoons are in the offices of GEDCO. Chief passed away in 1974. His daughter, Melodie Edwards is looking to contact people that knew her father, his paintings and his cartoons. You can reach Melodie 295-0383.

How I Got Involved In Geophysics...

This portion of the Tracing the Industry column is where people share how they became involved in this strange industry. Geophysics seems to be an “accidental” profession. No one starts out with the goal of becoming a geophysicist. Each month I like to have someone trace their pathway into geophysics. If you would like to share your story, please let me know! CS

Neil Ethier – Encana Corporation

Coming out of high school I had not taken physics as the school I went to only offered chemistry and biology. I entered the University of Alberta taking a combined Education/Science degree with a major in Biological Sciences and a Physical Sciences minor. In my second year, I had to take an introductory physics course and I really enjoyed it. At the end of the semester, a prof came into the class and talked about all of the career opportunities in the field of physics, and geophysics was one of them.

After my second year I was a little disheartened with the Education Faculty and wanted a change. I had a decision in front of me. Going through university I also worked at a restaurant as a server/manager and loved doing that. I had always enjoyed being around people and cooking so I thought long and hard about going to a culinary school in San Francisco. I had filled out two applications, one to the Culinary Institute of America and one to the Geophysics Faculty. If you hadn’t already guessed, I chose the Faculty of Geophysics. I knew that someday I would want a family. Knowing the hours that a chef has to do, especially in the evenings, I opted for the “family friendly” career. I am so happy with my decision as I can now play with science in the daytime and still cook for family and friends in the evenings if I choose to…

Pat McKenny – Kelman Technologies

I graduated with a B.Sc. degree from Queen’s University in 1978 and immediately put my degree to work. I was offered a position with The Ministry of Natural Resources in Sudbury, Ontario as a Resource Planner. The Government of Ontario was developing cottage lots on remote lakes and the job entailed determining the suitability of building sites, monitoring water quality, planning access roads, etc. It was the perfect blend of office work and field work. It was only a contract position but it was in the field for which I had been trained. I felt fortunate to have secured even a contract position because the Ontario economy was in a severe recession at the time and many university graduates couldn’t find employment in their chosen field.

Four months later I was transferred to North Bay, Ontario. The winter of 1978/1979 was particularly severe and I arrived after dark on January 2 at a frosty40 below. Then to make matters worse, the apartment I had arranged in advance wasn’t ready so I was forced to take the last flea-bitten motel room in town. It was without a phone and virtually devoid of heat. I called my parents from a phone booth to tell them I had arrived safely after a treacherous drive. They told me that Kevin Marsh, a former classmate, had called from Calgary. Risking frostbite, I returned Kevin’s call. He told me he was processing seismic data at Western Geophysical and that they, and most companies in town, were hiring. I had some knowledge of the seismic method and combined with my geology background, the opportunity sounded interesting. He said he could almost guarantee me a job if I moved to Calgary. He went on to say that a Chinook had blown into town and it was 18 degrees, and that’s on the plus side. All the snow had melted and they had even been drinking beer on their front lawn earlier in the day. It was at that very moment I decided as soon as my contract was up I would move from frozen Northern Ontario to Alberta, the land of milk and honey, where it’s warm enough to drink beer on your front lawn in January. (Remember… I was 22 years old.) In August of that year I packed all of my belongings into my car and told my parents I’d be gone out west to make money for a couple of years. My mom believed me but I could tell my dad thought otherwise. I arrived in Calgary and it took much longer to find an apartment than to find a job. In only a matter of days I was processing seismic data at Western Geophysical.

That was 26 years ago and the geophysical industry has provided me with an incredible ride. My dad was right… I would be gone a little longer than a couple of years.