William T. Payne*

Born in Tecumseh, Nebraska, in 1892, William Payne grew up on a farm near Shawnee, Oklahoma. While in grade school, he milked cows, delivered newspapers, and worked as a church janitor. He worked in the harvest fields of Oklahoma, Kansas, and the South while he was in high school.

While working his way through college, Payne sold cooking utensils door to door. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Oklahoma A&M, he was awarded a graduate assistantship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a master's in microbiology. He later became assistant bacteriologist for the city of Detroit.

After serving as a 2nd Lieutenant in World War I, Payne returned to Oklahoma as a scout for the North American Oil Company. In 1921, he joined Walter Helmerich, becoming vice president of Helmerich & Payne in 1926. In 1936, he became president and chairman of the board of Big Chief Drilling Company.

Payne was national president of the American Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors and the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. He also served as president of the Last Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America and chairman of the executive committee of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.