Robert A. Hefner

Robert Alexander Hefner ("The Judge") was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1949.^[1] He was born on February 7, 1874 in the community of Hefner Chapel four miles (6.4 km) north of Lone Oak, Hunt County, Texas to William Lafayette Hefner and Sarah Jane Masters Hefner. Hefner was father to Robert A. Hefner, Jr., William Johnson Hefner, and Margaret Evelyn Hefner.

Early life

Growing up poor, self-teaching was the only education Hefner could afford. By age 21, he had only received a total of nine months of formal education. His education was primarily by books received from a cousin at College Station and "at night while I was working on the farm and also when I was out herding sheep".^[2] In 1895, however, the family had to sell the farm to pay off debts and the proceeds were actually insufficient to pay its entirety. Then, just after he turned 21, his father died. Following these two very trying times, young Hefner resolved to work the farm for the following year to clear the family debts; receiving $15 per month credited against the debt and studying at night under a kerosene lamp given to him by his father in hopes to pass the entrance exams for college. In 1896, Hefner passed the examination and gained entrance to North Texas Baptist College at Jacksboro and paid off the remaining family debts.^[3]

Hefner, fresh off to college with only the clothes on his back and 35 cents, found work splitting wood to pay his way. At Jacksboro, he met his wife, Eva Johnson, daughter of a banker and would-be valedictorian of Baylor University in 1905 after gaining her third degree and speaking four languages fluently. Upon graduation, he decided he would study law at the University of Texas at Austin, but once again found the funding to be a problem. As a result, he worked for a while to save up enough to pay his way and at the age of 25 he was on his way. In 1899, he enrolled at the University of Texas and found himself only the second student from the "South Prairie" to do so. His hard work was rewarded in 1902 when he graduated near the top of his law class.^[4]

His hard work philosophy, which he taught to his children through his saying, "hit the ball hard", didn't always pay off. When he tried to take up golfing to have a pastime with his son, Hefner swung so hard at the ball he broke two ribs, ending his golfing career on his first swing.

The boom

Following graduation Hefner made a beeline to Beaumont, Texas, where it seemed all of Texas had heard of the Hamill Brothers gusher and gaining Beaumont the title "Oil Capital of the World" for a short time. Hefner decided to specialize in oil and gas law in order to save his money to invest in land that one day might produce. He found a partner and opened Parker and Hefner, soon to have landed the Southern Pacific Railroad account for their division, just seven years after Hefner rode his first train to Austin. The work was so great that they had to hire a third partner, renaming the firm Parker, Hefner, and Organ. Throughout his time in Beaumont, Hefner was educating himself further in the oil and gas industry–he became fascinated with geology, or "creekology", as he called it. It was also during this time that Eva graduated Baylor University and the two were wed on July 18, 1906. It wasn't long until Hefner decided to pack things up and move to Ardmore, Oklahoma after being involved in an Choctaw court case that dealt specifically with the Dawes Act and Indian mineral conveyances to non-Indians. The account goes that Hefner worked for four Indian families, only one of which (the Wilshires) ended up paying him following the successful court case. There is some speculation as to when Hefner actually moved to Ardmore with the family, but it was certain that he had become a citizen of Ardmore by January 1, 1908.^[4] He quickly became established as a prominent attorney on oil and gas law with the reputation of honesty. He represented most of the major oil companies and leading independents including: Humble Oil & Refining Company, Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil Oil), Pure Oil Company, Gulf Oil Company, Carter Oil, and Skelly Oil, F.W. Merrick, and many others during his first few years in town.

Creekology

True to his plans, Hefner used his law proceeds to purchase mineral rights where he thought oil and gas might be produced one day based upon his "creekology". The theory was that because oil is lighter than water, it had been forced uphill in permeable formations and become trapped in surface highs, or domes. Surface water runs downhill, so oil should be traced by observing the course of the rivers and streams. It was assumed that subsurface highs correlated to surface highs. In Oklahoma, this trend was in a northwest-southeast direction from Ardmore and also in a northwest-southeast direction from Duncan. He bought anything he could based upon his trending creekology and by the time he became Supreme Court Justice in 1927, he had already acquired over 15,000 acres (61 km²) of land and 33,000 acres (130 km²) of mineral rights. Time would tell that his investment was to pay off, and big.

Mineral conveyance

During his time in Ardmore, there was a stirring debate on whether minerals could not be conveyed apart from fee-simple title–"an opinion held by many noted professors of law and the authors of textbooks on oil-and-gas law".^[2] About 1912, shortly after the emergence of the Healdton and Cushing oil fields, Hefner prepared the first mineral deed in which he challenged conventional thinking and severed the minerals from their surface counterparts, a form that became known as "the Hefner Form". He soon began receiving requests for copies of his form from "states as far away as Pennsylvania," and it quickly became wildly accepted throughout the United States until it became recognized by law. "The "JZ" form of mineral conveyance in current use today, and approved by the Mid-Continent Royalty Owners Association, is based on the original Robert A. Hefner Form."^[2]

Another challenge came from a New York investor named W.L. Hernstadt in 1934. He presented the case that production would eventually come from depths greater than 4,000 feet (1,200 m), a proposition Hefner agreed with but told Hernstadt it would come long after their time. Hernstadt offered Hefner $10 per net mineral acre for his properties in Carter County and Hefner accepted, a decision that his son would laughingly harass his father for. Interestingly enough, it was Hefner's grandson, Robert A. Hefner III, that would pioneer the ultra-deep gas production in the Anadarko Basin of western Oklahoma at depths approaching 30,000 feet (9,100 m) during the late 1970s.

Public service

One of Hefner's chief beliefs, aside from his ardent faith in Christianity and service in the community, was education. He served two years as city attorney in Ardmore and was elected to the Board of Education as President in 1911–a position he held until 1918. When he found a student of humble means that possessed great promise, he quietly slipped funds to make his or her continued education possible. Dozens if not hundreds of youngsters received money from Hefner to continue their schooling. He also liked to help those going into law, like Earl Brown, who he had work in his law office. Earl Brown later inherited Hefner's law company, became vice-president, board member, and general counsel of Mobil Oil Company, as well as a leading author on oil and gas law.

Hefner was liked so greatly for his passion and honesty, he was elected Mayor of Ardmore in 1920, a position he held for six years. Under his lead, Ardmore overcame a 1919 deficit of $9,000 to a surplus of $193,000 in 1926 when he stepped down. In 1922 a $300,000 bond was also issued for Hickory Creek Reservoir creating a water supply for Ardmore, and likely a process that helped him later in his experience as Mayor of Oklahoma City. As Mayor of Ardmore, Hefner also gave the first speech ever broadcast from the city over the radio.

Shortly after his move to Ardmore in 1907–1908, Hefner soon became known as "the Judge", undoubtedly for his honesty and valued opinion. That nickname had something in store for Hefner, and in 1926, members of Ardmore approached Hefner to run for the Supreme Court of Oklahoma's Fifth District, to which he was elected in 1927, despite widespread corruption within the court. In 1929, three members of the court were impeached for bribery, coercion, misquotation of facts, conspiracy, corruption, interference with criminal proceedings, and incompetency, and ended up acquitted. The Federal Bureau of Investigation clearly stated Judge Hefner's innocence during these tumultuous years and no scandal was ever attached to his name. In his six years as Supreme Court Justice, Hefner authored 504 opinions, all of which were important to the legal history of the state inasmuch as many of them involved land titles of the state that involved many Indian cases. In one case he even issued an opinion against the Governor of Oklahoma, Alfalfa Bill Murray, in Wentz v. Thomas.

Other organizations he ardently supported were the Boy Scouts of America, of which he served as a member of the executive council, the Rotary Club, of which he served as President and held the National Rotary Club Convention in 1923 with over 1,500 delegates, the First Baptist Church, of which he was a deacon, the Dad's Association at the University of Oklahoma, where he was President, the Beaux Arts Ball, where he was the first King, the Navy League, where he served as Vice-President in Oklahoma, and the Freemasons, of which he was a thirty-second degree as well as deputy for the Grand Council in the District of Oklahoma. From these contributions to the community, Hefner received no money.

Mayor of Oklahoma City and Lake Hefner

In 1926, Hefner moved the family to 114 Robinson Street in Oklahoma City, where he would eventually become mayor, in April 1939. This was the last public office he would hold. During his stead as Mayor of Oklahoma City, Judge Hefner brought the National Governors Conference to Oklahoma City.

The first of the major hurdles for Oklahoma City was an establishing a water supply for its growth. For this effort, Hefner had the help of some strong support pillars, namely E.K. Gaylord, Virgil Browne, and Stanley Draper. The project was haunted with lawsuits and delays brought forth by the opposition. The vote for the $6,911,000 bond came to 7,578 people in favor and 7,182 against—a narrow victory that later proved a sound investment for the city. Hefner and city manager H.E. Bailey saved the citizens of Oklahoma City at least $1,280,000 upon the completion of the Bluff Creek water project by renting equipment instead of purchasing among other methods. On October 18, 1945, the city council voted unanimously to name the reservoir Lake Hefner.

During the war, Hefner did his part as well. He helped the Navy lead a campaign in Oklahoma City to raise $40 million in war bonds to construct the USS Oklahoma City^[5] to avenge the loss of the USS Oklahoma, where he brought in Bob Hope to kick off the War Chest Drive. The ship was commissioned on December 8, 1942 after one month of fundraising. He also was pivotal, with the help of E.K. Gaylord, Virgil Brown, and H.E. Bailey, to lure in Army officials in an effort to get Washington DC to locate the new air depot in Oklahoma City rather than the other four considered cities. The three officials who the Army sent were General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert Patterson, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. In May 1941, the chief of engineers of the United States Army named the base the Midwest Air Depot, now called Tinker Air Force Base. Hefner even went as far as to institute "meatless Wednesday" in support of the troops to ease meat shortages.

Hefner was re-elected in 1942 without any opposition and served out that term before finally stepping down from the public eye.

Reflection

Judge Hefner impacted the very heritage of Oklahoma and embodied the American dream with his humble beginnings to success story. He enjoyed becoming friends with Presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, serving his community, building a collection of walking canes and cow bells (his favorite a rusty cow bell given to him by Will Rogers and a bell connected to a baseball signed by all the New York Yankees given to him by their pitcher Allie Reynolds), and helping those with meager means, like he was as a child, continue on in their education. He was an honest man with strong resolve. He left three rules for anyone to become successful in life (1) Honesty: nothing dishonest will succeed, (2) Ordinary Ability: no genius needed, just common sense and an education, and (3) Pep: the fighting spirit of hard work.

References

Additional references

1. Family Records of the Descendants of Henry Hefner 1754-1886 by George H. Hefner, printed 1886
2. Obituary of Robert A. Hefner, "The Oklahoma Journal", 23 Jan.

1971

1. Hefner History and Genealogy, by Thomas H. Hefner
2. Transylvania Beginnings: A History, by Mary Jane McCrary
3. Daniel Hefner's War of 1812 muster roll record
4. Bounty land application of Elizabeth Hefner, dated 28 April 1852, Cherokee County, Alabama; from the National Archives
5. Bounty land application of Elizabeth Hefner, dated 8 January 1856, Hunt County, Texas; from the National Archives
6. 1800 federal census of Lincoln County, North Carolina
7. 1810-1820-1830-1840 federal censuses of Buncombe County, North Carolina
8. 1840 federal census of Rabun County, Georgia
9. 1840-1850 federal censuses of Gilmer County, Georgia
10. 1850 federal census of Cherokee County, Alabama
11. 1860 federal census of Dekalb County, Alabama
12. 1870-1880 federal census of Colbert County, Alabama
13. 1850 federal census of Titus County, Texas
14. 1860-1870-1880 federal censuses of Hunt County, Texas
15. Faulk, Odie B. and Laura E.. An Oklahoma Legacy: The Life of Robert A. Hefner, Jr.. Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1988.
16. Clifford Earl. The Judge: The Life of Robert A. Hefner. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1975.
17. http://www.okc.gov/council/okcmayors/index.html

External links

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Hefner, Robert A.