Earl Sims Obituary

Sims, Earl R. 1951 - 2011 Earl Sims passed away on November 2, 2011 in Plano, TX. A Memorial Service will be held at St. Andrew United Methodist Church 5801 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75093 on Saturday, November 5 at 11am. Visitation will be on Friday evening November 4 from 7-9pm at the Ted Dickey Funeral Home (West) 8011 Frankfort Road, Dallas, Texas 75252. Earl leaves his beloved wife, Pava Sims, to whom he was wedded for 36 spectacular years. He considered marrying Pava the most myster-iously wonderful experience of his life. They formed a partnership based on love, trust, friendship, fellowship and integrity. Pava was his best friend. He has no doubt of Pava's well-being following this death and looks forward to reuniting with her in heaven one day. Learning and education formed a foundation on which he built his life. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tulsa in 1973 in Chemical Engineering. In addition he received a Master of Science degree in Management and Administrative Science from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1983. This latter degree was earned as a part-time student in night school. But, formal education served only as a beginning of a lifetime of learning. He considered himself without great intellect, but with great intellectual curiosity and a relentless determ-ination. He continued to learn from experiences and formal classes. To prepare for his encore career, he completed course work and work experience requirements to earn the designation Certified Financial Planner®. His professional life included a rich variety of experiences. As a degreed Chemical Engineer, his early career involved a number of increasingly responsible positions with UOP and ARCO in process engineering and operations management. But, early on, he was drawn to the national debate on energy and environ-mental public policy and was asked to develop policy positions, and then defend them, on the national political stage. He loved the spirited debates, the intellectual challenges, the complexities, that these issues demanded. In the course of these efforts, he testified before the Congress, was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to the OCS Policy Committee, and held numerous senior roles in various trade associations representing oil and natural gas interests. He served on the Board of Governors of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He was honored by that organization on several occasions for his service on the Board as well as the Chairmanship of various Committees. As a Certified Financial Planner®, he worked as a fiduciary on behalf of his clients always putting their financial interest first. He gained so much pleasure from helping people achieve their financial goals so they could devote themselves to the important things in life-friends, family, community, spirit. His commitment to his community was an important part of his life. He became familiar with the Dallas non-profit community while managing ARCO's philanthropic program in the 1980's. He served on several boards during that time-The Volunteer Center, Shared Housing, The Center for Non-profit management. He was active in the Company's Adopt-a-School program for many years. He served several years as Chairman of the Dallas Nature Center during particularly challenging years. In 2010 he joined a group of volunteers who donated their time and resources to deliver school supplies to isolated villages along the Amazon River in Peru. A hot and sticky task, but one that he found richly rewarding. Most recently, he volunteered with the Greater Dallas Area Senior Source in its Money Management Program helping seniors with basic money matters. Earl loved to travel and no one made a better traveling companion than his wife, Pava. They shared a natural curiosity of other cultures, languages, and customs. They were active travelers choosing whenever they could to walk through a foreign country rather than motoring through it. They loved to touch, feel and smell these strange lands rather than merely passing through them. Earl also found nature travel and active vacations irresistible. He backpacked, canoed, trekked, whenever he could. Some of his fondest memories were with his band of brothers-the manly men in his life-that shared his love for the rugged life on occasion. He loved them all. In nature he found spirit. He was fond of the Henry Thoreau quote: "I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Earl's spiritual life kept him grounded in matters of religion and spirit. A committed Christian since early childhood, he never wavered from this spiritual walk though at times his faith was deeper and more committed than at other times. He found God in nature as well as the Church. And, his spirit was soothed at rough times by a pithy sermon, a scripture, a friend's prayer or witness. He was comforted by Isaiah 40:31, "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings of eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint". He is survived by his family to whom he is gratefully indebted. His Mother, Mary Sims of Broken Arrow, OK; Brothers Kenny Sims and Byron Sims and Sister Juanice Oldroyd. He is predeceased by his father Wayne Sims and sister, Debbie Keyser. He is also survived by his step Children, Lex Tate and Julie Ferlaino as well as Julie's children, Grayson and Katherine.

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Published by Dallas Morning News on Nov. 4, 2011.