Homer C. Givens
.20 linear feet
A2010-008
1890-1945 (unknown)
Homer C. Givens was a mechanical engineer and instrumentation man who worked as a Superintendent for the La Gloria gas plant outside of Falfurrias, Texas for most of his career. Givens was born in Iowa in 1907. He obtained a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) in 1929. Givens first position was in the natural gas gasoline industry and he remained in this field during his working career. He married Dorothy Millicent Meade and they had two daughters, Patricia Ann and Donna Jean. Givens began his career at Shell Oil Company in April of 1930 as the Meter and Control Instrument man where he created a new throttling device out of a twenty gallon LPG cylinder filled with water. This improvement was brought to the attention of the company that had built the controller and then redesigned the equipment. He was awarded a raise at Shell and recognition from the industry at the International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa in 1934. He next became a Traveling Engineer for Shell, his territory was the Panhandle of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In 1936 Homer C. Givens resigned from Shell, worked a brief time with Gulf Oil Corporation, then moved to Michigan to help build a gasoline plant. Not liking the cold winters Givens returned to Texas in 1940 to work for the La Gloria Gas and Oil Plant near Falfurrias, Texas. He became Superintend of the La Gloria Plant in 1949. For technical accomplishments Givens is best noted for his pioneering work in running pumps backwards to utilize pressure drops through a gas plant. He solved many mechanical problems, was innovative in his approaches with controllers, using them in ways not dreamed of by their manufacturers.
This collection illustrates the beginning of the gas and oil industry in South Texas from the 1930s to the 1960s. Included are letters from Congressman John Young thanking Givens for his presentation, other letters offering congratulations, published articles by Givens, and copies of presentations he made to professional organizations. One hundred and forty-two slides of the La Gloria plant includes slides of the outside and inside machinery within the plant, diagrams of individual pieces of equipment, work flow schematics, and cost analysis reports. His granddaughter, Christy M. Schweikhardt, wrote, "Although it may sound odd, Homer truly loved the plant, it was part of him and he knew it better than any person that ever set foot on the site. He knew what every gage should read how every valve should be placed and every hiss, whistle and rumble the plant should make, and those it should not."
Arranged in Folders: Series I: Autobiographical Account - Homer C. Givens Series II: Correspondence Series III: Articles Published Series IV: Presentations Series V: Awards Series VI: Slides Series VII: Photos
South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Open for Research
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Homer C. Givens Collection A2010-008.XXXX, South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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A2010-008 – Gift of Christy M. Schweikhardt (Granddaughter of Homer C. Givens)
Processed by Lori Akins. 2015/06/10