Alfred Frank Jirous

November 18, 1903 – August 11, 1949

Alfred Frank Jirous, 45, Port Arthur, Texas, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home on August 11, 1949. He had been in ill health for six months.

Born in Perry on November 18, 1903, he was the son of James W. and Josephine Hynek Jirous. Following his graduation from Perry high school in 1924, he graduated from Oklahoma A. & M, Stillwater, where he was affiliated with the Sigma Tau social fraternity and the Phi Lambda Upsilon, national chemistry honor society.

He moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where he worked in the chemical research laboratory at Phillips Petroleum company. It was in Bartlesville where he met Ruth “Isabelle” Dearing. She was was from Renton, Washington, but at that time she was working as the Girl Reserve secretary of the Bartlesville YWCA. They were married on July 20, 1934, at the First Presbyterian church in Bartlesville.

Alfred left Phillips Petroleum to get his master’s degree at Michigan University. On completion of his education, he and his wife moved to Port Arthur where he was employed as a petroleum engineer with the Texas Company (Texaco). They were residents of Port Arthur for twelve years.

Beside his wife, surviving are two daughters, Joanne and Jane of Port Arthur, and parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Jirous of Red Rock, Oklahoma.