Emerson Francis Woodward

Emerson Francis Woodward was born on February 23, 1879 at Podunk (about convert|70|mi|km southwest of Syracuse), New York to William W. and Ida May LaGrange Woodward. Because his father made his living in the oil business in its earliest days at Titusville, Pennsylvania, Emerson wanted to follow in his footsteps. After receiving an early education in the Goodwill Hill public schools in Pennsylvania, Woodward, at the age of eleven, went to work in the oil fields, and before the end of his career, he would be affiliated with the industry in various states, including Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. He married Bessie McGarry in 1901 at Woodsfield, Ohio, and the couple had only one child, a son, Harley E. Woodward.

The Producers Oil Company employed Emerson Woodward for eleven years, and during this stretch, he met his lifelong associate, Thomas Peter Lee, who worked for the same firm. Woodward advanced quickly within the organization and received a promotion to assistant superintendent of its southern division, which encompassed the area from New Orleans to El Paso. Later, he helped organize the Farmers Petroleum Company, held the position of superintendent, and in 1921 became president of the Republic Production Company, one of the American Republics Corporation’s subsidiaries. With the formation of the Yount-Lee Oil Company, Woodward eventually became one of the largest stockholders.

Emerson Woodward in January 1924 advanced $28,000 to build the Houston Gun Club on Westheimer Road, and he actively participated in his favorite hobby of trapshooting in the company of friends such as Hank A. Hausmann of LaGrange, Texas and Forest McNeir, a fellow Houstonian. His expert marksmanship earned for him places in the National Trapshooting Hall of Fame, which inducted him on August 24, 1973, and in the Texas Trapshooters Association Hall of Fame, which reciprocated in 1983. One of his records “in 1933 … set a yearly ATA (American Trapshooters Association) 16-yard average record of .9950 that was not broken or tied until 1965, some thirty-two years later.

After the Yount-Lee sale to Wright Morrow, Woodward announced, “Well, I sold the last of my oil interests today. I’ve got nothing to do but fool with horses.” Emerson kept his word, retired from the oil business and spent much of his time occupied with the sport of the kings. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, on his ranch, Valdina Farms, spanning convert|18127|acre|km2 located in both Uvalde and Medina Counties in Texas, hence the name Valdina, he raised, trained, and sent his horses such as Valdina Myth, Valdina Orphan, and Rounder to racetracks all over the country. These entries competed head to head with some of the best the racing world had to offer. Valdina Myth finished first at the 1941 running at Kentucky Oaks; Valdina Orphan, with jockey Carroll Bierman aboard, ran third at the 1942 Kentucky Derby; and Rounder “became the only horse to ever outrun 1941 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year Whirlaway in wire-to-wire fashion.” For his contributions to the industry, the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame inducted him as a member in 2001.

Emerson and his wife were also recognized for their philanthropic accomplishments. According to Jack Meyer, their pastor at the Heights Church of Christ in Houston, “They financed an orphanage in Hope, Arkansas …, built the Church of Christ at College Station, contributed heavily to the Boles Orphans home at Quinlan, Texas. They sent many girls through the Abilene Christian College, paying all their expenses.” Unfortunately, an automobile driven by Woodward collided into the side of a train at a grade crossing near D’Hanis, Texas, close to Hondo in Medina County, and the accident claimed both his life and that of his wife, the only other passenger in the vehicle. Bessie Woodward died of injuries on May 22, 1943, and Emerson followed at age sixty-four two days later while a patient at the Medina Hospital in Hondo. A double funeral was held in Houston at Heights Church of Christ, and they were entombed in a mausoleum at the city’s Forest Park Cemetery.

Source: McKinley, Fred B., and Greg Riley. "Black Gold to Bluegrass: From the Oil Fields of Texas to Spindletop Farm of Kentucky". Austin: Eakin Press, 2005.