One could say the Wolcott family has oil coursing through its
veins.

Like the Campbell family featured by The Era earlier this week,
the Wolcotts also have numerous years of service at the Bradford
refinery – more than 154 in either full or part-time roles. The
majority of the family served at the refinery and its various
properties under the Kendall name.

M. Chris Wolcott, a current Foster Township supervisor,
remembers working for the company during the summer with his
cousins while home from college.

“I worked during the summer mostly as a mechanics helper, while
my cousins worked as painters and did maintenance activities,”
Wolcott said, adding his cousins were Nord and Norm Wolcott. “We
did that all four years in college. We were part time.”

But it was his father, Frank W. Wolcott, that had the most
service at the facility – 44 years, mostly as a mechanic
(production department) at the Red Rock and Bells Camp shops. Frank
Wolcott still lives in Derrick City.

Next in line was Wolcott’s uncle, Norman Wolcott Jr., who also
worked in the production department for 42 1/2 years as a
roustabout and building well locations.

“He even did some shooting of the wells,” Wolcott said.

Meanwhile, Norman Wolcott Sr., Wolcott’s grandfather, worked at
the Bells Camp shop as a machinist for 28 years.

Wolcott himself has 24 years of service for the company.

“When I started out full time, I wasn’t planning on working in
Bradford after I got out of the Peace Corps,” Wolcott said. “It
evolved into a full-time job and I moved through billing and sales
and marketing.”

To this day, Wolcott, who lives on Derrick Road, said when he
hears powerhouses, he fondly remembers the old days. Wolcott lives
just down the street from one still operated by a man named Bob
Sage.

“We all grew up listening to the powerhouses pumping,” Wolcott
said. “To hear his (Sage) running every now and then brings back
old memories.”

In fact, Wolcott credits his family’s long lifespans – his
father will soon be 91 years old and his grandfather was 105 when
he passed away – to “the hard work they put in in the fields.”

“My grandfather was still mowing his lawn when he was 95,”
Wolcott said, noting his uncle made an appearance in the American
Refining Group parade on Thursday night.

Like others in the region, Wolcott said he’s happy to see the
upswing in the oil industry again.

Wolcott said the technology has changed greatly since his
father, grandfather and uncle worked in the fields.

“My grandfather used to work with horse teams,” Wolcott said.
“Now, it’s a whole different ballgame with the directional
drilling.

“It’s a good thing for the area and definitely a boon to the
economy,” Wolcott said of the most recent oil boom. “It’s
tradition.”