{"id":4684,"date":"2016-05-17T16:58:06","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T21:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/?page_id=4684"},"modified":"2025-03-30T12:48:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T17:48:55","slug":"obituary-swearingen-wayne-elwyn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/?page_id=4684","title":{"rendered":"Obituary – Swearingen, Wayne Elwyn"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wayne<\/p>\n

Class of 1942<\/h2>\n

\"Wayne
Wayne Swearingen<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Wayne Elwyn Swearingen<\/h1>\n

October 30, 1924 – November 13, 2006<\/h3>\n

Wayne E. Swearingen, one of the most prominent voices of the energy industry, died Monday. He was 82.<\/p>\n

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at Grace Lutheran Church under the direction of Fitzgerald’s Ivy Funeral Home.<\/p>\n

Swearingen’s six-decade career in the oil industry included work for several companies, but he is perhaps best known for his work as an independent consultant and spokesman for the industry.<\/p>\n

He was born in Grant, Neb., but grew up in Perry, where he graduated from high school.<\/p>\n

Swearingen’s first job in the petroleum industry was as a roughneck and roustabout in the oil fields working for Shell Oil Co.<\/p>\n

Following World War II service in the Army Air Corps as a navigator bombardier on a B-29, Swearingen returned to the University of Oklahoma, graduating in 1948 with a petroleum engineering degree.<\/p>\n

He completed the advanced management program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1965.<\/p>\n

After graduating from OU, Swearingen worked for six years as a drilling, production and reservoir engineer for Amoco Petroleum and then moved on to work with two consulting firms.<\/p>\n

In 1961, he joined Livingston Oil Corp., also known as LVO, and five years later became its president and CEO. Swearingen directed the company’s domestic and foreign petroleum exploration and acquisition programs.<\/p>\n

Also, he led LVO to make several offerings of public securities and the company’s expansion into cable television and business services.<\/p>\n

In 1974, Swearingen signed the papers merging LVO and Utah International, and he walked away to form a consulting firm.<\/p>\n

He was the founder and a member of the International Association of Energy Advocates, a group that speaks out for the petroleum industry.<\/p>\n

Swearingen was a popular public speaker and was often quoted by the national media, addressing the country’s dependence on foreign oil, tax policy, and environmental issues.<\/p>\n

Mark Stansberry, president of the International Society of Energy Advocates, called Swearingen “a great friend of the energy industry.”<\/p>\n

“He loved promoting energy education,” Stansberry said. “He’ll be greatly missed.”<\/p>\n

The Energy Advocates honored Swearingen for his years of service to the industry with a tribute dinner at Southern Hills Country Club in 1992.<\/p>\n

Swearingen was the evening’s featured speaker, addressing the importance of energy, economy, environment and ethics.<\/p>\n

He was president of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association in 1971.<\/p>\n

He also served on many national oil industry boards, including the National Petroleum Council and as the Oklahoma representative on the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.<\/p>\n

He served in leadership posts for a national bank, two public corporations, two family corporations and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.<\/p>\n

Swearingen’s brother, former University of Tulsa President Eugene Swearingen, died in 2002.<\/p>\n

Swearingen is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dorothy Swearingen; two sons, Scott and Brett Swearingen, both of Tulsa; a daughter, Lynn Bockmeulen of Tulsa; and seven grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Friends are making memorial contributions to Grace Lutheran Church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-FullWidth.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4684"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28088,"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4684\/revisions\/28088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perryokalumni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}