Alfred Chatenever

Having lived a full and unique life, Alfred Chatenever died August 3, 2010 at his home in Tulsa. He was 94. He was born May 1, 1916 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He earned degrees from City College of New York, Columbia University, and New York University, including a doctorate in Physical Chemistry. During World War II, he worked on the Manhattan Project, helping to develop the atomic bomb.
While still in New York, he married Blanche Picker. The couple and their young son, Rick, moved to Norman in 1950 where Alfred took a position as a professor in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He was a pioneering researcher in the development of new efficient methods for extracting oil and gas from the earth.
In 1951, Blanche died giving birth to twins, Deborah and David. Alfred never remarried, raising the three children by himself. After working for three years (1957-1960) at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., he moved his family to Tulsa where he held a position as a research executive for Sinclair Oil Co. Following his retirement, he had a long association with the University of Tulsa and continued to provide a wide range of consulting services to the Oil and Gas Industry.
Until shortly before his death, he enjoyed an agile mind, good health, and an unrelenting curiosity spanning a wide variety of subjects from the arts and sciences to sociology, religion, and politics. Always a lover of ideas, he was a true renaissance man.
In his later years, Alfred gravitated to a life of simple pleasures among which his greatest was his family. He is fondly remembered and deeply missed by his children, Rick, Debs, and David; daughters-in-law Karen Chatenever and Mary Thieme; grandchildren, Lisa, Chloe, and Simon; and great-grandaughter Lili Skye Lavo.
The family is planning a private memorial gathering but wishes to acknowledge the sentiments of all who knew and appreciated Alfred.
Arrangements were entrusted to Daniel C. Schaudt of Schaudt's Glenpool Funeral Service & Cremation Care. Family and friends may view the obituary and send condolences to the family online at www.schaudtfuneralservice.com