Green, Don W. - The University of Kansas

AN INTERVIEW WITH DON GREEN
Interviewer: Jewell Willhite
Q: I am speaking with Don Green, who retired in 2009 as the Dean E. Ackers distinguished
professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas. We are in
Lawrence, Kansas, on June 16, 2009. Don has already prepared extensive amounts of
written information, which I will include, but he has some other things to say as well.
Let’s start out by talking about your early life.
A: I was born July 8, 1932 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Tulsa, when Tulsa truly was an
oil town. My father was Earl Leslie Green. He was born in a small town in Texas, 50
miles northeast of Dallas. His parents were small farmers near Celeste, Texas, a town of
about 700 people northeast of Dallas. He had some business education and was a bank
teller at Tulsa National Bank.
My mother was Erma Pansy Brackins. She was born in a small town in northeast
Oklahoma. Her father worked in the oil fields and at odd jobs. He had small businesses
from time to time, a grocery store, filling station, and a dairy farm. She was a supervisor
of a school cafeteria for the Tulsa Public Schools.
My brother is Terry Albert Green, born October 31, 1934 in Tulsa. He has a B.S.
degree in business from the University of Tulsa. He worked as a contract manager for a
defense company, after serving four years in the Air Force. He was also involved with
small businesses, a rental agency and gourmet popcorn production and distribution. He
married JoAnn and they have one son, Terry. He currently lives near Hilton Head Island,
SC.
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