Steve Donald Welch

Steve Donald Welch, 86, of Farmington, New Mexico passed away at his home on January 21, 2017.

Steve was born September 21. 1930 at Epworth Hospital in Liberal, Kansas, the son or Herman and Berniece Hodges Welch.

He went to school and graduated from Hooker High School with the Class of 1950. After graduation, he entered the U.S. Air Force on April 12, 1951 until his honorable discharge on April 11, 1955.

He began work with Bovaird Supply in Liberal, Kansas and Farmington, New Mexico and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1968, working at the Nevada Test Site until 1973.

He moved to Houston, Texas in 1973 working for Hughes Glomar Exploration Project in Los Angeles and Wilmington, Delaware. He transferred to Glomar Coral Sea Drill Ship in Orange, Texas and was involved in drilling three wells in the Gulf and then drilled off shore of Alexandria, Egypt, living in Malta until 1975.

Steve then moved to Hawthorn, California and worked for Off Shore Co. in Nigeria and Genoa, Italy for seven months when he returned to the states and worked for Regan Off Shore Manufacturing Co. in southern California in 1978.
In 1982 he worked on Glomar Adriatic One “1” off shore yuck(youck) up rig off shore of Gabone Africa and Angola, South Africa and commuted to California every twenty-eight days until 1984. He returned to Farmington, New Mexico in 1985 and went to work for U.S. Postal Service until retirement in1992.

He loved to fish, do woodworking and enjoyed listening to country music.

Steve was a member of the First Baptist Church in Hooker, Oklahoma where his parents were charter members.

Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, January 26, 2017 at the Roberts Brothers Funeral Home in Hooker with the interment in the Hooker Cemetery. Pastor Mike McReynolds of the Hooker First Baptist Church will be officiating.

Condolences may be left at www.robertsbrothersfuneralhome.com