Girand to speak Thursday

Rotarian Dan Girand will be speaker at Thursday’s Roswell Rotary Club meeting.

Dan was born in Lubbock, Texas, on March 5, 1938, to Lillian Goodnight Girand and W.D. “Dub” Girand.

Dan Girand

The following year the Girand family moved to the oil boomtown of Hobbs, N.M., where Dan’s father became the oil and gas lawyer in the community, partnering with Melvin Neal.

Dan was educated in the Hobbs school district, where he played football and
baseball. During his school years, he earned Eagle Scout rank.

During his school years, Dan received his ham radio license at 15. He currently holds the same license. His other hobbies were cars and drag racing.

His summer jobs included stints with El Paso Natural Gas, Doran Chevrolet, and Cablevision, where he climbed poles.

In 1956, Dan began classes at the University of New Mexico, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science. He attended UNM Law School from 1960-62.

Dan then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and attended Officer Training School at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

After graduating from OTS, he was assigned to Amarillo Air Force Base, a technical training base.

“The major running officer assignments took one look at my mostly bald head and age, and told me I was going to be commander of the Headquarters Squadron, Amarillo Tech Training Center,” Dan said. 

“The center commander, a major general, who was in my Squadron, shook his head and said this was the first time a brand new second lieutenant was ever made a squadron commander.

“After two years, I applied for and was accepted in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations,” Dan said. After attending the basic class in Washington, D.C., he was assigned to DO 19 at Travis Air Force Base in California.

Two years later he transferred into the Inactive Reserve and, after 13 years, he received an Honorable Discharge from the Air Force.

Dan returned to Hobbs in 1966 and worked as an insurance adjuster for several years. He then bought a retail gift store and joined the Hobbs Rotary Club, serving as Bulletin editor for several years.

He started Hobbs Troop 20 of the New Mexico Mounted Patrol in 1972.

Dan was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Hobbs, and was an adult Sunday School teacher and a ruling elder at the church.

“After selling the gift store, I was selected for the director’s position on the Southeastern New Mexico Criminal Justice Commission in Roswell,” he said. “I taught criminal justice classes at New Mexico Junior College and the College of the Southwest in Hobbs.

“After about seven years, Congress abolished the funding for Criminal Justice Commissions all over the nation,” Dan said.

He then became contracts administrator for Harvey E. Yates.

Dan has served two terms as chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), New Mexico Independent Oil and Gas Association.

In December 2016, he retired from Mack Energy Corp. after 20 years of service.

Dan, who earned Tae Kwan Do and Aikido 6 Degree Black Belts in 2009, has been named a Martial Arts Pioneer by the U.S. Martial Arts Association.