James (Jim) Elmer Galford completed his battled with pancreatic cancer in Houston, TX and crossed over into the land of angels and the home of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on October 24^th, 2024.

He was born in Weston, WV on April 5, 1951, and he was the last of six children born to his late parents, Lloyd and Freda Pritt Galford. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his son, Benjamin, and siblings: Fonda, Betty, Wannafae, and Glen. Jim is survived by his brother Pritt, of Cookeville, TN, former wife Sandy (David) Murphy, daughters Kyler (Charles Nguyen) and Mindi (Jason Parmet, grandchildren: Tyson and Caden, of Houston, TX, and long-time partner, Jessie Momen of Morgantown, WV.

Jim graduated from Lewis County High School with the class of 1969 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from West Virginia University. He began his career with Schlumberger as a field engineer and went on to hold positions in sales and well-log interpretation development. He also worked on numerous engineering projects to develop new conventional nuclear well logging tools and he developed some of the early interpretation and data-processing methods employed in nuclear magnetic resonance well logging. During his career, he was granted 30 patents from the US Patent Office and he authored 34 technical papers that were presented at various industry symposia or published in scientific journals. Jim retired from Halliburton as a Chief Scientific Advisor where he worked for more than 25 of his 43-year wireline and logging-while-drilling oil-field career.

His work assignments involved more foreign travel than a small-town country boy ever dreamed of. In all, Jim visited twenty-eight different countries for work and pleasure. He also lived in Perth, Australia and Aberdeen, Scotland for three years. Among his favorite places are: Hawaii, Alaska, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Scotland. His most memorable travel adventure was a tour with the National World War II Museum that took him to several historic sites from the war in the Pacific. He enjoyed standing on the Tinian runway where the Enola Gay took off to drop the first nuclear bomb on Japan and then a few days later climbing to the top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima to stand where the US flag was raised.

Jim enjoyed riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles, WVU sports, movies, blues music, and woodworking. He was always aware of how blessed his life was with good family and friends, good teachers, and good fortune. When things were not so good, he also remembered you never have far to look to see someone in a tougher spot.

Instead of flowers, Jim would have requested you donate to the Benjamin James Galford Research Scholarship Fund, fund number 3Z238, by contacting West Virginia University Foundation, One Waterfront Place, PO Box 1650, Morgantown, WV 26507, phone 800-847-3856. Or, if you prefer, donate to MD Anderson Cancer Center by calling 833-758-0936, or online at https://www.mdanderson.org.