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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=Chester Robert "Chet" Upham, II |birth_date =May 19, 1925 |birth_place=Mineral Wells, Texas, USA |office=Texas Republican..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Chester Robert "Chet" Upham, II
|birth_date =May 19, 1925
|birth_place=Mineral Wells, [[Texas]], [[United States|USA]]
|office=Texas [[Republican Party|Republican]] State Chairman
|term_start=1979
|term_end=1983
|preceded=[[Ray Barnhart]]
|succeeded=[[George Strake, Jr.]]
|residence=Mineral Wells, Texas
|death_place=Mineral Wells, Texas
|profession=[[Oil]] and [[natural gas]] [[business]]man
|alma_mater=University High School (Los Angeles, California)<br>
[[University of California at Los Angeles]]<br>
[[University of Texas at Austin]]
|religion=[[Christianity]]
|spouse=Virginia Frances Lee Upham (married 1946-his death)
|children=Barbara Lee Upham<br>
Dr. Mary Kathleen Upham<br>
Chester R. Upham, III<br>
Richard Lee Upham (deceased)<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Chester Robert and Ida Irene Upham
|footnotes='''Notes'''
(1) Some of the [[oil]] wells drilled by Upham in the late 1940s were still operating at the time of his death early in 2008.<br>
(2) Upham's term as chairman of the [[Texas]] [[Republican Party]] (1979-1983) coincided with the first administration of [[Governor]] [[Bill Clements]], the first GOP chief executive in Texas since [[Reconstruction]].<br>
(3) In addition to business and politics, Upham was involved in [[aviation]] and ownership of Loveland Ski Area in [[Colorado]], the first to use "artificial" snow.
}}
'''Chester Robert Upham, Jr.''', known as '''Chet Upham''' (May 19, 1925 – January 24, 2008), was an [[oil]] and [[natural gas]] [[business]]man from Mineral Wells, [[Texas]], who served as the chairman of the state [[Republican Party]] from 1979 to 1983, corresponding with the first gubernatorial administration of his friend, [[Bill Clements]]. Upham was a delegate to every Texas state Republican convention from 1960 to 1994 and to the national conventions of 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1992. He was a member of the Business Council organized by former Governor [[Rick Perry]].<ref name=upham>Lacie Morrison, Upham's death mourned by local, state political leaders," ''Mineral Wells Index,'' January 25, 2008.</ref>
==Family background and early years==
Prior to 1900, Upham's grandfather, David A. Upham, came to Texas from [[Pennsylvania]] to work on a drilling rig at a time when there were only three such structures in the world. David Upham soon owned and operated what became the fifth rig in existence. Upham Oil and Gas originated in 1914, when David Upham heard about the emerging field in Ranger, located between [[Fort Worth]] and [[Abilene, Texas|Abilene]], Texas. In 1917, the senior Upham drilled his first natural gas well in Palo Pinto County. A few years later, David Upham's son, Chester R. Upham, Sr., came to Mineral Wells, and the two men purchased the Consumer's Gas and Fuel Company, a natural gas operation. In 1925, the company extended service to rural communities within Palo Pinto County. In 1926, the company was renamed the Brazos River Gas Company, which served fifteen communities. In 1950, the name was again changed to Upham Gas Company.<ref name=oilgas>{{cite web|url=http://www.uphamoilandgas.com/AboutUs.htm|title=Upham Oil and Gas Company, LC|publisher=uphamoilandgas.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Chet Upham was born in Mineral Wells but moved with his parents, Chester and Ida Irene Upham, to southern [[California]]. He spent his teenage years in [[Beverly Hills]] and graduated from University High School in [[Los Angeles]], where as a youth he met numerous [[actor]]s.<ref name=vitae>{{cite web|url=http://www.utsystem.edu/bor/former_regents/regents/Upham/cv.htm|title=Chester R. Upham, Jr.: Curriculum vitae|publisher=utsystem.edu|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref> Before he returned to Mineral Wells to launch the new oil and gas company, Upham, Sr., had operated a neon sign business in California, when such operations were novel. Upham, Jr., attended one semester at the [[University of California at Los Angeles]] before he dropped out to join the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]]. Commissioned an [[ensign]], he served from 1943 to 1946,<ref name=vitae/> with eight months at sea, having been released thereafter to the United States Naval Reserve.<ref name=upham/> His graduated in 1945 from the [[University of Texas at Austin]], where he procured his Bachelor of Science in [[mechanical engineering]] after three and one-half years. He was a member of the swimming team and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.<ref name=vitae/>
==Business success==
After the war, Upham lived briefly with his parents at the landmark Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells.<ref name=upham/> In 1947, he joined his father in the management of Upham Gas Company. After his father's death in 1956, Upham Gas Company was sold and became Southwest Gas, which also handled the distribution system for the city of Mineral Wells.<ref name=oilgas/> According to Chet Upham's family, some of the first wells that Upham drilled were still in production at the time of his death in 2008.<ref name=upham/>
In 1956, Upham launched Upham Oil & Gas Company, an exploration and production company still in operation. In January 1977, Chester Upham, III, known as Robert Upham, joined the company and became its operations manager. The firm maintains wells in Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker, and Wise counties and natural gas processing plants in the nearby communities of Chico and Strawn.<ref name=oilgas/>
Upham was a past president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owner’s Association. In 1990, he received the Chief Roughneck Award. He was a member and director of the North Texas Oil and Gas Association. Formerly a member of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission and the Natural Resources Petroleum Council, he was a founding director of Palo Pinto Municipal Water District No. 1 and the Palo Pinto Area Foundation. He was also a director of the Mineral Wells Area [[Chamber of Commerce]]. He was a former member and director of the [[conservative]] [[Mountain States Legal Foundation]].<ref name=upham/> He was co-owner of Upham Development Company, a commercial [[real estate]] business, in California. He was a director of City National Bank in Mineral Wells and a former regent of the University of Texas.<ref name=vitae/>
Upham flew his own plane until his health made that impossible. He then hired a pilot to transport him around the country. On December 16, 1946, Upham wed the former Virginia Frances Lee, who was born on February 24, 1924, in [[Phoenix]], [[Arizona]].<ref name=vitae/> She was a flight attendant for American Airlines prior to their marriage.<ref name=upham/> Upham used his background in engineering and oilfield compressor technology to introduce the first artificial "snow-making" to [[Colorado]]<ref name="skimuseum"/> in 1984, a system now used by almost all major ski areas. His resort, the Loveland Ski Area,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/65684/loveland-ski-area-owner-chet-upham-dead|title=Loveland Area Ski Owner Chet Upham Dead|publisher=epicski.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref> is still independently-owned by his family and operated by his widow. Loveland "consistently has the best 'snow' conditions in Colorado," the family maintains. Upham and Loveland general manager Otto Werlin, conceived the idea of artificial snow from observing the pumps and compressors being used to dig the nearby Eisenhower Tunnel, built between 1968 and 1973 on Interstate 70 under the [[Continental Divide]].<ref name="skimuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.skimuseum.net/halloffame/Nomination%20Packets-2009/Otto%20Werlin.pdf|title=Otto Werlin (1926-2008) Hall of Fame Nomination|publisher=skimuseum.net|accessdate=January 30, 2010; no longer on-line}}</ref>
==Political matters==
Upham was named Texas Republican chairman in 1979, when [[Ray Barnhart]] of Pasadena, near [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], resigned to join the Clements administration as one of the then three members of the Texas Transportation Commission. During Clements' first term, Upham worked closely with the administration, but Republican growth remained slow even with the statewide victory of [[Ronald W. Reagan]] in Texas in 1980. In 1983, blamed for poor Republican election showings in 1982, Upham was replaced as state party chairman by the Houston oilman and philanthropist [[George Strake, Jr..]], who had been the unsuccessful nominee for lieutenant governor in 1982 on Clements's failed reelection ticket. Strake lost to the incumbent [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], William Pettus "Bill" Hobby, Jr., also of Houston, whom Strake attempted to brand in the campaign as a "liberal." ''Texas Monthly'' [[magazine]] later reflected that "squabbling and demoralized Republicans turned on" Upham mistakenly as "a postelection scapegoat."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=Chet+Upham+and+GOP+chairmanship+in+TX&source=bl&ots=YOp7T9Nszq&sig=jiVJ_qG4t4CJDT8f4UUfuoo7lfg&hl=en&ei=C9BkS_m3M8qztgf-wfnECA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CB0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=&f=false|title=''Texas Monthly''|date=February 1986|publisher=Google Books|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Upham was an admirer of Ronald Reagan, whom he described as a man of principles who did not waver in his beliefs: "The thing about Ronald Reagan so many of us were so very, very proud of is that he didn’t worry about the polls," Upham told the ''Mineral Wells Index.''<ref name=upham/> He claimed in a 1983 interview with ''[[The Washington Post]]'' that former U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]], who was unseated by Reagan in 1980, "pushed" the Texas oil and gas industry "into the Republican Party. There's no question about it. The principles of the Republican Party are more akin to the things that oil and gas people are seeking."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A216888|author=Michael King|title=It All Leads Back to Texas|date=June 18, 2004|publisher=austinchronicle.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Even as his chairmanship ended, Upham continued to work to nominate and elect various Republican candidates over the years, including Ed Hargett,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/elec-MINERAL-WELLS-TX.html|title=Mineral Wells, TX, Political Contributions by Individuals|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref> a former [[football]] star, who failed in a 1985 [[special election]] for the [[United States House of Representatives]] in East Texas. In 2002, Upham and later GOP state chairman Thomas Pauken worked to nominate former State Representative Kenn George of [[Dallas]], who lost the [[primary]] for Texas land commissioner to state Senator [[Jerry Patterson]], then of Harris County.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kenngeorge.com/endorsed.html|title=Kenn George for Texas Land Commissioner|publisher=kengeorge.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Texas state Representative Jim Keffer from House District 60 said that Upham "shepherded Texas into a vibrant two-party system, giving many Texans a voice in government for the first time."<ref name=upham/> State Senator Craig Estes of [[Wichita Fallss]], representing Senate District 30, likewise called Upham "a legendary pioneer in helping to grow the Republican Party of Texas."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.estes.senate.state.tx.us/pr08/p012408a.htm|title=Senator Craig Estes statement on the passing of Chet Upham|publisher=estes.senate.stgate.tx.us|work=Press release|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
==Death and legacy==
After a five-year struggle with bone [[cancer]], Upham died in the Palo Pinto General Hospital in Mineral Wells. In addition to his wife, he was survived by daughters, Barbara Lee Upham, formerly Barbara Kemp, and Dr. Mary Kathleen Upham, and son, Chester Robert Upham, III, and his wife, Lori. A second son, Richard Lee Upham, preceded his father in death. He had five grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. Services were held in the First Christian Church of Mineral Wells, where Upham was a member. He is interred at Woodland Park Cemetery in Mineral Wells.<ref name=upham/>
Mineral Wells [[Mayor]] Clarence Holliman, who left office on May 20, 2008, described Upham, accordingly: "He was a giant among men that always kept an humble spirit and that was just who he was . . . a tremendous support system for me with his wisdom, with needed resources or just somebody that you could sit down and enjoy a conversation with. I count it a privilege and a blessing to be counted among his friends." When asked what one word could describe Upham, Holliman replied, "'Real' in every sense of the word, because no matter who you were, Mr. Upham was always Mr. Upham. … Whether it was someone he worked with or just met, he was always the same."<ref name=upham/>
Upham donated in 2007 to [[U.S. Senator]] [[John McCain]]'s presidential campaign in 2008. His son was an active donor to the successful reelection of Republican U.S. Senator [[John Cornyn]] of Texas in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/chester-upham.asp?cycle=08|title=Chester Upham: Political Campaign Contributions, 2008|publisher=campaignmoney.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
On May 19, 2008, the first "Chet Upham Day" was posthumously proclaimed on his birthday in Mineral Wells. [[U.S. Representative]] Mac Thornberry of Clarendon (who is retiring from the House in January 2021) sent a statement to the event: "In business, [Upham] left an indelible mark on the oil and gas industry, contributing greatly to the economy and job base of Palo Pinto County. . . . Today, Chet is being honored for the many contributions and lasting achievements, not only in the state and area, but in the hearts of so many people … All who have benefited from his efforts have been blessed as we have experienced the epitome of excellence, leadership and character."<ref name=tribute>Libby Cluett, "Legacy living on: Upham honored on special day in special way," ''Mineral Wells Index,'' May 24, 2009.</ref> Gayle Gilmore of the staff of State Representative Jim Keffer said that Upham "was a Republican when it wasn't cool to be a Republican."<ref name=tribute/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Upham, Chet}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Colorado]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category: World War II]]
|name=Chester Robert "Chet" Upham, II
|birth_date =May 19, 1925
|birth_place=Mineral Wells, [[Texas]], [[United States|USA]]
|office=Texas [[Republican Party|Republican]] State Chairman
|term_start=1979
|term_end=1983
|preceded=[[Ray Barnhart]]
|succeeded=[[George Strake, Jr.]]
|residence=Mineral Wells, Texas
|death_place=Mineral Wells, Texas
|profession=[[Oil]] and [[natural gas]] [[business]]man
|alma_mater=University High School (Los Angeles, California)<br>
[[University of California at Los Angeles]]<br>
[[University of Texas at Austin]]
|religion=[[Christianity]]
|spouse=Virginia Frances Lee Upham (married 1946-his death)
|children=Barbara Lee Upham<br>
Dr. Mary Kathleen Upham<br>
Chester R. Upham, III<br>
Richard Lee Upham (deceased)<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Chester Robert and Ida Irene Upham
|footnotes='''Notes'''
(1) Some of the [[oil]] wells drilled by Upham in the late 1940s were still operating at the time of his death early in 2008.<br>
(2) Upham's term as chairman of the [[Texas]] [[Republican Party]] (1979-1983) coincided with the first administration of [[Governor]] [[Bill Clements]], the first GOP chief executive in Texas since [[Reconstruction]].<br>
(3) In addition to business and politics, Upham was involved in [[aviation]] and ownership of Loveland Ski Area in [[Colorado]], the first to use "artificial" snow.
}}
'''Chester Robert Upham, Jr.''', known as '''Chet Upham''' (May 19, 1925 – January 24, 2008), was an [[oil]] and [[natural gas]] [[business]]man from Mineral Wells, [[Texas]], who served as the chairman of the state [[Republican Party]] from 1979 to 1983, corresponding with the first gubernatorial administration of his friend, [[Bill Clements]]. Upham was a delegate to every Texas state Republican convention from 1960 to 1994 and to the national conventions of 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1992. He was a member of the Business Council organized by former Governor [[Rick Perry]].<ref name=upham>Lacie Morrison, Upham's death mourned by local, state political leaders," ''Mineral Wells Index,'' January 25, 2008.</ref>
==Family background and early years==
Prior to 1900, Upham's grandfather, David A. Upham, came to Texas from [[Pennsylvania]] to work on a drilling rig at a time when there were only three such structures in the world. David Upham soon owned and operated what became the fifth rig in existence. Upham Oil and Gas originated in 1914, when David Upham heard about the emerging field in Ranger, located between [[Fort Worth]] and [[Abilene, Texas|Abilene]], Texas. In 1917, the senior Upham drilled his first natural gas well in Palo Pinto County. A few years later, David Upham's son, Chester R. Upham, Sr., came to Mineral Wells, and the two men purchased the Consumer's Gas and Fuel Company, a natural gas operation. In 1925, the company extended service to rural communities within Palo Pinto County. In 1926, the company was renamed the Brazos River Gas Company, which served fifteen communities. In 1950, the name was again changed to Upham Gas Company.<ref name=oilgas>{{cite web|url=http://www.uphamoilandgas.com/AboutUs.htm|title=Upham Oil and Gas Company, LC|publisher=uphamoilandgas.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Chet Upham was born in Mineral Wells but moved with his parents, Chester and Ida Irene Upham, to southern [[California]]. He spent his teenage years in [[Beverly Hills]] and graduated from University High School in [[Los Angeles]], where as a youth he met numerous [[actor]]s.<ref name=vitae>{{cite web|url=http://www.utsystem.edu/bor/former_regents/regents/Upham/cv.htm|title=Chester R. Upham, Jr.: Curriculum vitae|publisher=utsystem.edu|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref> Before he returned to Mineral Wells to launch the new oil and gas company, Upham, Sr., had operated a neon sign business in California, when such operations were novel. Upham, Jr., attended one semester at the [[University of California at Los Angeles]] before he dropped out to join the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]]. Commissioned an [[ensign]], he served from 1943 to 1946,<ref name=vitae/> with eight months at sea, having been released thereafter to the United States Naval Reserve.<ref name=upham/> His graduated in 1945 from the [[University of Texas at Austin]], where he procured his Bachelor of Science in [[mechanical engineering]] after three and one-half years. He was a member of the swimming team and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.<ref name=vitae/>
==Business success==
After the war, Upham lived briefly with his parents at the landmark Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells.<ref name=upham/> In 1947, he joined his father in the management of Upham Gas Company. After his father's death in 1956, Upham Gas Company was sold and became Southwest Gas, which also handled the distribution system for the city of Mineral Wells.<ref name=oilgas/> According to Chet Upham's family, some of the first wells that Upham drilled were still in production at the time of his death in 2008.<ref name=upham/>
In 1956, Upham launched Upham Oil & Gas Company, an exploration and production company still in operation. In January 1977, Chester Upham, III, known as Robert Upham, joined the company and became its operations manager. The firm maintains wells in Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker, and Wise counties and natural gas processing plants in the nearby communities of Chico and Strawn.<ref name=oilgas/>
Upham was a past president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owner’s Association. In 1990, he received the Chief Roughneck Award. He was a member and director of the North Texas Oil and Gas Association. Formerly a member of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission and the Natural Resources Petroleum Council, he was a founding director of Palo Pinto Municipal Water District No. 1 and the Palo Pinto Area Foundation. He was also a director of the Mineral Wells Area [[Chamber of Commerce]]. He was a former member and director of the [[conservative]] [[Mountain States Legal Foundation]].<ref name=upham/> He was co-owner of Upham Development Company, a commercial [[real estate]] business, in California. He was a director of City National Bank in Mineral Wells and a former regent of the University of Texas.<ref name=vitae/>
Upham flew his own plane until his health made that impossible. He then hired a pilot to transport him around the country. On December 16, 1946, Upham wed the former Virginia Frances Lee, who was born on February 24, 1924, in [[Phoenix]], [[Arizona]].<ref name=vitae/> She was a flight attendant for American Airlines prior to their marriage.<ref name=upham/> Upham used his background in engineering and oilfield compressor technology to introduce the first artificial "snow-making" to [[Colorado]]<ref name="skimuseum"/> in 1984, a system now used by almost all major ski areas. His resort, the Loveland Ski Area,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/65684/loveland-ski-area-owner-chet-upham-dead|title=Loveland Area Ski Owner Chet Upham Dead|publisher=epicski.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref> is still independently-owned by his family and operated by his widow. Loveland "consistently has the best 'snow' conditions in Colorado," the family maintains. Upham and Loveland general manager Otto Werlin, conceived the idea of artificial snow from observing the pumps and compressors being used to dig the nearby Eisenhower Tunnel, built between 1968 and 1973 on Interstate 70 under the [[Continental Divide]].<ref name="skimuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.skimuseum.net/halloffame/Nomination%20Packets-2009/Otto%20Werlin.pdf|title=Otto Werlin (1926-2008) Hall of Fame Nomination|publisher=skimuseum.net|accessdate=January 30, 2010; no longer on-line}}</ref>
==Political matters==
Upham was named Texas Republican chairman in 1979, when [[Ray Barnhart]] of Pasadena, near [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], resigned to join the Clements administration as one of the then three members of the Texas Transportation Commission. During Clements' first term, Upham worked closely with the administration, but Republican growth remained slow even with the statewide victory of [[Ronald W. Reagan]] in Texas in 1980. In 1983, blamed for poor Republican election showings in 1982, Upham was replaced as state party chairman by the Houston oilman and philanthropist [[George Strake, Jr..]], who had been the unsuccessful nominee for lieutenant governor in 1982 on Clements's failed reelection ticket. Strake lost to the incumbent [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], William Pettus "Bill" Hobby, Jr., also of Houston, whom Strake attempted to brand in the campaign as a "liberal." ''Texas Monthly'' [[magazine]] later reflected that "squabbling and demoralized Republicans turned on" Upham mistakenly as "a postelection scapegoat."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=Chet+Upham+and+GOP+chairmanship+in+TX&source=bl&ots=YOp7T9Nszq&sig=jiVJ_qG4t4CJDT8f4UUfuoo7lfg&hl=en&ei=C9BkS_m3M8qztgf-wfnECA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CB0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=&f=false|title=''Texas Monthly''|date=February 1986|publisher=Google Books|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Upham was an admirer of Ronald Reagan, whom he described as a man of principles who did not waver in his beliefs: "The thing about Ronald Reagan so many of us were so very, very proud of is that he didn’t worry about the polls," Upham told the ''Mineral Wells Index.''<ref name=upham/> He claimed in a 1983 interview with ''[[The Washington Post]]'' that former U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]], who was unseated by Reagan in 1980, "pushed" the Texas oil and gas industry "into the Republican Party. There's no question about it. The principles of the Republican Party are more akin to the things that oil and gas people are seeking."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A216888|author=Michael King|title=It All Leads Back to Texas|date=June 18, 2004|publisher=austinchronicle.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Even as his chairmanship ended, Upham continued to work to nominate and elect various Republican candidates over the years, including Ed Hargett,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/elec-MINERAL-WELLS-TX.html|title=Mineral Wells, TX, Political Contributions by Individuals|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref> a former [[football]] star, who failed in a 1985 [[special election]] for the [[United States House of Representatives]] in East Texas. In 2002, Upham and later GOP state chairman Thomas Pauken worked to nominate former State Representative Kenn George of [[Dallas]], who lost the [[primary]] for Texas land commissioner to state Senator [[Jerry Patterson]], then of Harris County.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kenngeorge.com/endorsed.html|title=Kenn George for Texas Land Commissioner|publisher=kengeorge.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
Texas state Representative Jim Keffer from House District 60 said that Upham "shepherded Texas into a vibrant two-party system, giving many Texans a voice in government for the first time."<ref name=upham/> State Senator Craig Estes of [[Wichita Fallss]], representing Senate District 30, likewise called Upham "a legendary pioneer in helping to grow the Republican Party of Texas."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.estes.senate.state.tx.us/pr08/p012408a.htm|title=Senator Craig Estes statement on the passing of Chet Upham|publisher=estes.senate.stgate.tx.us|work=Press release|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
==Death and legacy==
After a five-year struggle with bone [[cancer]], Upham died in the Palo Pinto General Hospital in Mineral Wells. In addition to his wife, he was survived by daughters, Barbara Lee Upham, formerly Barbara Kemp, and Dr. Mary Kathleen Upham, and son, Chester Robert Upham, III, and his wife, Lori. A second son, Richard Lee Upham, preceded his father in death. He had five grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. Services were held in the First Christian Church of Mineral Wells, where Upham was a member. He is interred at Woodland Park Cemetery in Mineral Wells.<ref name=upham/>
Mineral Wells [[Mayor]] Clarence Holliman, who left office on May 20, 2008, described Upham, accordingly: "He was a giant among men that always kept an humble spirit and that was just who he was . . . a tremendous support system for me with his wisdom, with needed resources or just somebody that you could sit down and enjoy a conversation with. I count it a privilege and a blessing to be counted among his friends." When asked what one word could describe Upham, Holliman replied, "'Real' in every sense of the word, because no matter who you were, Mr. Upham was always Mr. Upham. … Whether it was someone he worked with or just met, he was always the same."<ref name=upham/>
Upham donated in 2007 to [[U.S. Senator]] [[John McCain]]'s presidential campaign in 2008. His son was an active donor to the successful reelection of Republican U.S. Senator [[John Cornyn]] of Texas in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/chester-upham.asp?cycle=08|title=Chester Upham: Political Campaign Contributions, 2008|publisher=campaignmoney.com|accessdate=January 30, 2010}}</ref>
On May 19, 2008, the first "Chet Upham Day" was posthumously proclaimed on his birthday in Mineral Wells. [[U.S. Representative]] Mac Thornberry of Clarendon (who is retiring from the House in January 2021) sent a statement to the event: "In business, [Upham] left an indelible mark on the oil and gas industry, contributing greatly to the economy and job base of Palo Pinto County. . . . Today, Chet is being honored for the many contributions and lasting achievements, not only in the state and area, but in the hearts of so many people … All who have benefited from his efforts have been blessed as we have experienced the epitome of excellence, leadership and character."<ref name=tribute>Libby Cluett, "Legacy living on: Upham honored on special day in special way," ''Mineral Wells Index,'' May 24, 2009.</ref> Gayle Gilmore of the staff of State Representative Jim Keffer said that Upham "was a Republican when it wasn't cool to be a Republican."<ref name=tribute/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Upham, Chet}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Colorado]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category: World War II]]