Clayton Paul Hilliard

Clayton Paul Hilliard was born in 1925 in Sandburr Coulee, located in Buffalo County, Wisconsin. His early years were spent on a small family farm. Hilliard's father suffered from chronic poor health, which made it difficult for him to contribute to the hard labor of a farm.

Hilliard's mother, the oldest girl in a farm family of 11, assumed management of the farm, raised three boys, and cared for her husband when he was incapacitated. This responsibility alone would have been daunting, but the Great Depression, coupled with severe drought, made the Hilliard family's existence even more difficult. Their farmhouse had no electricity or indoor plumbing. They lived 12 miles from town and did not own a car. It was a hardscrabble life, and Hilliard and his brothers learned to throw nothing away. They used, reused, and refitted many items to avoid spending precious cash on new things.

When Hilliard was 11, his younger brother accidentally started a fire that destroyed the family's hay supply, barn, and farm equipment. They were forced to sell all of their livestock, but were able to keep their milk cows. The family moved into a rental in town and boarded their cows in a nearby barn, and earned an income from their small dairy, delivering milk, cream, and cottage cheese to the town residents. Hilliard also had a paper route to help with expenses. This was his first exposure to world events, which stimulated a keen interest in geography and history.

When Hilliard was 14, his father died. Two years later, his mother remarried and moved 30 miles away, but Hilliard moved in with an aunt and grandmother so that he could continue at his local high school. In 1943, at the age of 17, Hilliard enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He flew 45 missions as a radioman and gunner in the Solomon Islands and Philippines during World War II. After the war ended, Hilliard used the GI bill to finance his undergraduate education, first at Wisconsin University and then at Syracuse University. He earned a law degree at the University of Texas in 1951.

Hilliard's first job after finishing school was with Chevron, but he soon discovered that he did not want to work for a large corporation. After three years, he joined H. L. Hunt, and explored for oil in southern Louisiana. In 1955, at the age of 30 and with $400 in the bank, he struck out as an independent oil and gas producer. His 53-year ownership of Badger Oil Corp was a roller-coaster of failure and success. He was in business for 20 years, for example, before he saw oil go above $3 a barrel. Although risky, Hilliard has found the oil business to be fascinating, exciting, and challenging.

Hilliard has given generously to civic and charitable programs. The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana, features more than 2,000 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and photographs. Hilliard has also served on the board of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, a nonprofit research organization that offers solutions to statewide issues; on the board of directors of a community bank, which he helped to start in 1984; on the board of trustees and the executive committee of the National World War II Museum; and was national chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America from 1989 to 1991. In 1997, Hilliard established the Badger Excellence in Education Foundation, which focuses much of its attention on reading at the elementary school level.