ESTEVAN — Ron Wanner is being remembered for his work ethic and his lengthy career in the southeast oilpatch.
Wanner died on May 31 at St. Joseph's Hospital at the age of 81.
He was one of the charter members of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce's Nick and Verna Morsky Business Hall of Fame in 2011, and was enshrined as a Southeast Saskatchewan Legend during the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in 2017.
Wanner began working for British American Oil in 1962 and later Gulf Oil, but decided to go into business for himself, forming a partnership with Ron Stregger on a business venture. In 1972, Wanner established Viking Surplus Oilfield Equipment. He was selling treaters at a time when nobody else was.
According to his induction bio for the Southeast Saskatchewan Legends, Viking Surplus got into machining, rebuilding pump unit parts, drill pipe, tubing, casing and more.
Wanner expanded his business portfolio in 1985 with Venture Well Services and moved into the production end of the oil industry with T-Bird Oil, which was later sold to Crescent Point Energy Corp.
In 2010 Venture Well Servicing's five rigs were sold to Certified Energy Services.
Warren Waldegger started working for Wanner with the Viking group of companies in 1999. He described Wanner as a hard worker who also enjoyed having a good time, a man who took care of his employees and supported the community.
By 2001, Waldegger was working for T-Bird Oil. After T-Bird was sold, he started working for Fire Sky Energy, and continued to work for the Wanner family until Fire Sky's sale in 2021.
"Ron and I were a pretty good mix. He was fast forward on everything, and I guess I was a little more of a risk manager," recalled Waldegger. "When we put our heads together, we were a pretty strong duo. He had no fear. It was always about the next adventure and the next opportunity.
"There was really no downside. He just always wanted to do more and thought he could fill in the gaps out there if there was one."
When Waldegger started, they had machine, welding, repair and paint shops, plus a supply store, crew trucks and service rigs.
"They had new and used pumpjack repairs and sales, they had new and used pressure vessels, repair and supplies. There was a lot going on there," said Waldegger.
Wanner's son Cory gave Waldegger a tour of the operation when Waldegger first started. When asked what he thought about all the services and activity, an overwhelmed Waldegger could only think about an empty space in the Venture shop.
"It wasn't long before that space was being used for something," said Waldegger.
The family has had a lot of long-time employees, and others who went on to bigger and better things.
"His group of companies was definitely a training ground for the oilpatch. I think the oilpatch is going to really miss that. His was one of the first shops you would see as you were driving into Estevan, so there was lots of kids from Manitoba and out east who would drive into Estevan, pull into his place, and they would be working the next day or even that afternoon."
In 2009, Wanner bought Waldegger a car in honour of Waldegger's 10th anniversary with the company, as a way of saying thanks for building up T-Bird's reputation.
"It just shows his generosity," said Waldegger. "He also did that … for one of his long-term employees that was working for Viking Surplus as well."
Wanner was also known to provide some cash to an employee who was experiencing some hard times, Waldegger said.
The Wanner family's generosity extended to the community with donations to St. Joseph's Hospital. When Waldegger was on the committee to build a new clubhouse and restaurant at the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Course 20 years ago, or when Waldegger was part of the organizing committee for the 2016 Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup hockey tournament, Wanner was there to support both initiatives.
"As we know in this community when an entrepreneur … steps up in a big way, a lot of the others follow suit. So, it really helped us kick off that clubhouse project," said Waldegger.
A staff and contractor charity golf tournament became a very successful event, raising money for such causes as SMILE Services.
"It was a pretty important thing in Ron's life to have SMILE in this community, so we definitely wanted to support those guys because they were supporting the Wanner family," said Waldegger.
Wanner is survived by his wife of 60 years Dorothy, their three children – Debbie (Greg) Henders, Kelly (Susan) Wanner and Cory (Cecilia) Wanner – and 13 grandchildren.
A prayers service was held at Hall Funeral Services on June 5, and a funeral mass was June 6 at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church.
