EATMON WELL SERVICE

"We used to run 24 hours a day with two divisions and up to 12 rigs." said Liz Ferguson, owner of Eatmon Well Service, as she reflected on the golden days in the oilfield.

The oil industry has always had its ups and downs. Liz said, "It is either up or down. If it was only an even road. When it's good, it's good, when it bad it's really bad!"

According to Liz, in 1982, they were really busy, the oil industry was booming.

"We bought two brand new rigs and in six month things crashed," she recalled.

And just like that, they were a million dollars in debt.

This last downturn in the oil industry was according to Liz, a combination of "people playing the futures, a shortage of storage" and of course the coronavirus along with international events.

As a local business, "it affected us – major," Liz said. "I have people that work for me, my daughter, a brother-in-law and long, long-time employees, we're family."

Liz said she had to figure out a way to keep Eatmon Well Service alive in this economy and she did just that. Eatmon Well Service with the help of FirsTier Bank applied for the Small Business Administration, Payroll Protection Program and received it. These funds "get employees off unemployment," she said.

Liz can keep her employees working, cleaning the yard, painting and other general work. A detailed accounting of the money is required for the government, but the funds were a life saver for Eatmon Well Service.

"I don't know what we would have done if we wouldn't have got it," she said. "I have got about three months that I can keep the lights and everything on. Hopefully by then we will start working. We do have one rig out, it is real sporadic, but it is something. We can break even with two rigs out."

Liz, like her father, feels a responsibility for her employees. Employees like Dave Shoenemann have worked for Eatmon family since July 1966. After a long career in the oilfield, Dave will retire in June, Liz said.

Liz is the third generation of Kimball oilfield.

Her grandfather, James Stanley Eatmon, came to Kimball in 1956 from Kansas. He had already been in the oilfield business in Illinois, Oklahoma and Kansas. He started Eatmon Drilling Co., and at that time the company did "both" drilling and servicing. Now, Eatmon Well Service just completes wells.

James Stanley, known as "Stan," was a quiet and reserved man, but his son, Sonny Eatmon, whom he partnered with in 1956 in the oilfield business, was a more well-known figure around Kimball. Sonny Eatmon lived a full and wonderful life but Liz remembers tough times too.

Sonny Eatmon was a testament to the volatility of the oil industry.

They went from a 3,000 foot home back to a modular," Liz recalled. "That is what they had to do; we came back out of it."

Liz said his mottos were: "We had fun when we had it. Easy come, easy go. Can't take it with you."

"Dad began grooming me to take over the business in 1983," she said. "I went to college and became a "land man."

As a woman, Liz was entering a new arena. She started out in the business as a secretary and then gradually started learning more and more.

" I self-taught myself on the mainframe computer," she said. "I was born and raised in this business. There has a been a few women in the oilfield business, but there were not many, still isn't many."

Now a fourth generation works for Eatmon Well Service. Liz's daughter Ashley is the safety coordinator for the well service.