Young, Harold W.

English

University of Oklahoma College of Law

Oklahoma Law Review Volume 34 Number 1 1-1-1981 Eugene Kuntz--A Profile of the Person Harold W. Young Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Harold W. Young, Eugene Kuntz--A Profile of the Person, 34 OKLA. L. REV. 3 (1981), https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/27 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Oklahoma Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact darinfox@ou.edu. EUGENE KUNTZ-A PROFILE OF THE PERSONHAROLD W. YOUNG*A rose, is a rose, is a rose; andA person, is a person, is a person...Gertrude Stein and Harold YoungMore Than a Bite of LifeMost of us who have had the benefit of knowing and beingassociated with Eugene Kuntz call him Gene. I shall take the libertyof continuing that custom in the few pages that follow. I shall quicklyadd the name of Rose, Gene's wife. It is a union that has endured forso many years and has been filled with so much of life's potentialfulfillment. The many facets of the combined personalities of Gene andRose are inextricably intertwined. They may be separable, but they arenot separate. It would be artificial and ingenuous to pretend to separatethem, for together they refract and reflect the light of Gene, the Per-son, as much so as do two precious stones placed in a single setting.Hereafter, in this modest effort, where for the sake of brevity, I mayat times mention Gene alone, please make the appropriate associationof Rose in your mind.The Fun of Learning to TeachThe embryonic lawyer, the law school student seeking to earn thefirst degree in law, is wont to make an oft-repeated assertion that he orshe "just can't wait to stop all this studying and learning." Of course,the seasoned lawyer knows full well that reading, studying, com-prehending, analyzing, organizing, synthesizing, and, ultimately,learning are but some of the most important tools used in everydaylawyering. Just as in the final analysis a law school student must learnthe law for herself or himself, so one who would seek to teach othersto learn the l~w must develop the art of helping others to learn.Developing this art is, most assuredly, difficult. Former Dean PageKeeton of the University of Texas Law School, himself a legaleducator for more than four decades, has often commented that anyperson must be imbued with a certain amount of perversity in order toundertake to teach another adult anything. Needless to say, DeanKeeton is using the word "perversity" in the sense of the high degreeof dedication one must possess in order to invest oneself in the hard* Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law.-Ed.Published by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, 1981OKLAHOMA LA W REVIEWtask of seeking to learn to communicate with understanding. Com-municating with understanding is the essence of the teaching andlearning process.Gene and Rose set out on the law school teaching and learningcareer aspect of what would develop to be their multiple careers in1.947. That summer they went to the College of Law of the Universityof Wyoming, located in Laramie. There Gene quickly began todevelop not only Dean Keeton's requisite degree of "perversity" butalso that quality of teaching and learning which is the Siamese-twin ofcommunicating with understanding. This latter quality is involved withperception, that is, perceiving and applying the teacher's half of amutuality of respect-a reciprocity of seeking to attain understanding.In their few years at Wyoming, Gene laid the touchstone for acquiringa technique that would allow him to share with thousands of studentsand lawyers the benefits of his learning and reasoning. But equally asimportant, and perhaps even more important, Gene and Rose com-menced an approach that might well be characterized as the "balance-wheel" of their lives.Within easy sight of the University of Wyoming's campus, andwithin a short distance thereof, was the Medicine Bow MountainRange. Gene and Rose were attracted to the white slopes of theMedicine Bow Range. They learned to ski there in the late 1940's, wellbefore the national interest in skiing developed. This ability to com-bine what is fun professionally in the classroom or the courtroom withfun in athletically demanding physical activities has been a hallmark ofthe fullness of their lives together.Before going to Wyoming, Gene had armed himself with two lawdegrees, a glimpse of private law practice, and a stint of several yearsin the navy. Gene and Rose left Laramie with the bedrock for alifetime of teaching and learning and with a way of life that wouldtranscend even that with a heightened appreciation of blending themental processes with the physical processes.The Complete Lawyer at OUMore than three decades ago, Gene and Rose came to the Univer-sity of Oklahoma College of Law from Wyoming. Building on thefoundation he had established at Wyoming, Gene quickly developed amaster teacher technique. His mastery of the interaction betweenlearning and teaching in the classroom brought the law of oil and gasand oil and gas taxation to the forefront among the most consistentlyheavily enrolled courses in the College of Law. Likewise, his teachingmethodology remained among the most highly respected and effectivethrough this current semester, his last to be with us as a teacher.[Vol. 34:3https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/27KUNTZ: PROFILEDuring the latter half of the 1960's, Gene served as Dean of theCollege of Law. These years, which covered the bulk of the VietnamWar and its aftermath, were beset by severe administrative difficulties.Policies promulgated in Washington intended to have a direct impacton military operations being conducted over a world away impactedvery heavily on legal education in Norman. Wide fluctuations in lawschool enrollment produced all of the problems attendant upon ad-ministering in the face of the uncertain or the unknown.During 1970-71, Gene was selected to serve as a Special Justice onthe Oklahoma Supreme Court. With that service honor, Gene roundedout the tripartite of lawyering-teacher, administrator, and jurist.But, what of the fourth dimension? Legal writing is difficult,demanding, and has a relatively small readership compared to morepopularized forms of writing. However, in law libraries locatedwherever the legal fraternity encounters problems related to exploringfor, drilling, producing, or processing oil and gas will very likely befound the volumes that comprise Kuntz, Law of Oil and Gas, a verypopular and monumental legal treatise. From the early 1960's to therecent time, much of Gene's and Rose's time has been dedicated topreparing the manuscripts and updating the pocket parts of Kuntz,Law of Oil and Gas. Perhaps, through some fortuitous happenstanceor by design, the name Kuntz is embracive enough to include bothGene and Rose. For the most visible evidence of the oneness of thetwo are the countless days that Rose has spent in the law schoolbuildings working with Gene on a wide variety of helpmate tasks, in-cluding the perennial copying, cutting, and pasting of reported cases.Just as the two went down the ski slopes in Wyoming together, sothrough the years they have together scaled the heights of reflectedscholarship in publishing.Culminating Gene's years of lawyering in Oklahoma, and in thisfinal semester of his teaching, he has been selected to become a Fellowin the American Bar Foundation. This very signal honor is fitting; itepitomizes and symbolizes the distinction with which the Kuntzes havelived their lives in Norman, in Oklahoma, and in nationally recognizedplaces.A Yank at Oxford (Revisited)In 1975 the Oxford University/University of Oklahoma SummerLaw Seminar Program was established jointly by the universities. Theinitial session of the program was held in the summer of that year atWorcester College, one of the more than thirty colleges comprisingOxford University. The faculty for that initial session included threeEnglish dons (professors) and three American professors of law, all1981]Published by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, 1981OKLAHOMA LA W REVIEWfrom ou:r law school. One of those from Oklahoma was, of course,Gene Kuntz, who brought to law students from law schools scatteredthroughout the United States his vast experience and knowledge of thelaw of oil and gas. (It is a side comment, but it is so singular it is worthmentioning, that during the summer of 1975 oil and gas wells were be-ing completed in the North Sea Fields, and that by the end of 1980 theproduction therefrom would be in an amount sufficient to make Bri-tain independent of imported foreign oil.)Oxford has been a citadel of learning for centuries; some of itscolleges were founded in the thirteenth century. So vast an amount oflearning has left both tangible and intangible impacts on the entire cityof Oxford. The varied buildings of the colleges and structuresthroughout the city reflect simultaneously some of the changes andsome of the sameness which transcend the passage of time frommedieval times to the present day. All of this leads to learning throughhours spent leisurely experiencing the beauty and symmetry of the in-ner grounids and courtyards of the many c'olleges, through troddingthe streets, pathways, and parkways where the scholars who have pro-duced so much scholarship and learning have trod, and, perhaps mostimportant, just the opportunity to live for a while in a country whosepeople, while very similar in many ways nevertheless are equally asdissimilar through many customs that are differently rooted fromours. One need but visit a historic pub to realize that "the pub" is aninstitution for which we have no counterpart.Rose had, of course, gone to Oxford with Gene. She participatedin making brass rubbings, another English activity for which we haveno equal. In essence, brass rubbing involves reproducing on a specialkind of paper the image of a brass likeness of a deceased historic per-sonage. They embellish crypts in churches throughout many areas ofEngland. The end product is unique; two particularly handsome onesmake striking wall hangings in Rose's and Gene's home in Norman. Theopportunities from travel offer learning possibilities that equal thoseof the classroom and living in Oxford. Gene and Rose traveled fre-quently with somewhat special emphasis on London, Canterbury,Coventry, Edinburgh, and Blackpool-a seaside town situated on theIrish Sea, where Gene had spent some time while in the navy.The Great Wall of OxfordAs mentioned above, Rose accompanied Gene to Oxford,but-as not yet mentioned-she did so with a fiberglass cast on herleg, the result of an accident in Norman. Her participation in all of thelearning, traveling, and experiencing mentioned above was not dilutedby her having to wear the cast, but one evening in Oxford she and[Vol. 34:3https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/27KUNTZ: PROFILEGene were severely tested. Worcester College is situated on the farwestern side of Oxford, while Lady Margaret Hall-where the Kuntzesresided in the summer of 1975-is on the eastern side of Oxford. Theseveral miles between the two are most conveniently and pleasantlytraversed for the mile closest to Lady Margaret Hall by walkingthrough University Park in the Norman Manor portion of Oxford.University Park is surrounded by a wall, perhaps seven or eight feethigh, with a gate at the western edge of the park for convenient accessto the Central District, and a similar gate at the north, adjacent toLady Margaret Hall. One evening during the summer, Rose and Genepassed through the western gate before it was locked, although theyknew the time for locking the gate was close. At something less than atrot and more than a saunter, they covered the path to the north gate,which, lo and behold, was locked! After some gate-rattling, theyassessed the alternatives-spending the night in the park or scaling thewall. Fortunately, it was readily apparent that many persons hadpreceded them in similar plights, for there were developed notches orgrooves on their side of the wall, which they felt surely would exist onthe other side. One by one they ascended the wall, using the footholdsto get to the top, and clambered happily and safely down the otherside. Gene and Rose, once again, had scaled the heights!Gene's overall assertion, oft-repeated, about the summer of1975 is that it represented the single finest educational experience hehad ever enjoyed. Rose has always concurred. A few summers afterthat initial experience, Gene and Rose returned to Oxford, again forGene to teach in the summer program. Their comments have beenuniformly to the effect that repetition does not make Oxfordlackluster.Persons of FaithGene and Rose personify and manifest the myriad hues andshadings of persons of faith. Central to the many facets of their com-bined personalities which this effort has attempted to reduce to writingis a deep, abiding faith-faith in God, faith in themselves, faith inother persons, faith in life. Had they not shared so deep a faith, theycould not have experienced so much that their multifaceted per-sonalities have allowed them to enjoy. Gene's bearing, classroom man-ner, and the brevity of his reasoned, persuasive remarks at facultymeetings all stem from a deep wellspring of conviction and faith.Of Things to ComeAs part of a much deserved vacation, Gene and Rose plan to visitNew England during the early autumn. More particularly, they1981]Published by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, 19818 OKLAHOMA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:3plan to visit Vermont, considered by many persons to provide theheight of autumnal beauty as the season changes. If all goes well, theywill spend a yet undetermined number of days bicycling to view thetrees, as well as the forest. Time marches on-and so do the Kuntzes,but, fortunately, to the beat of a different drummer.https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/27

Eugene Kuntz--A Profile of the Person

Oklahoma Law Review Volume 34 Number 1 1-1-1981 Eugene Kuntz--A Profile of the Person Harold W. Young Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Harold W. Young, Eugene Kuntz--A Profile of the Person, 34 OKLA. L. REV. 3 (1981), https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/3 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Oklahoma Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact darinfox@ou.edu. EUGENE KUNTZ-A PROFILE OF THE PERSONHAROLD W. YOUNG*A rose, is a rose, is a rose; andA person, is a person, is a person...Gertrude Stein and Harold YoungMore Than a Bite of LifeMost of us who have had the benefit of knowing and beingassociated with Eugene Kuntz call him Gene. I shall take the libertyof continuing that custom in the few pages that follow. I shall quicklyadd the name of Rose, Gene's wife. It is a union that has endured forso many years and has been filled with so much of life's potentialfulfillment. The many facets of the combined personalities of Gene andRose are inextricably intertwined. They may be separable, but they arenot separate. It would be artificial and ingenuous to pretend to separatethem, for together they refract and reflect the light of Gene, the Per-son, as much so as do two precious stones placed in a single setting.Hereafter, in this modest effort, where for the sake of brevity, I mayat times mention Gene alone, please make the appropriate associationof Rose in your mind.The Fun of Learning to TeachThe embryonic lawyer, the law school student seeking to earn thefirst degree in law, is wont to make an oft-repeated assertion that he orshe "just can't wait to stop all this studying and learning." Of course,the seasoned lawyer knows full well that reading, studying, com-prehending, analyzing, organizing, synthesizing, and, ultimately,learning are but some of the most important tools used in everydaylawyering. Just as in the final analysis a law school student must learnthe law for herself or himself, so one who would seek to teach othersto learn the l~w must develop the art of helping others to learn.Developing this art is, most assuredly, difficult. Former Dean PageKeeton of the University of Texas Law School, himself a legaleducator for more than four decades, has often commented that anyperson must be imbued with a certain amount of perversity in order toundertake to teach another adult anything. Needless to say, DeanKeeton is using the word "perversity" in the sense of the high degreeof dedication one must possess in order to invest oneself in the hard* Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law.-Ed.Published by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, 1981OKLAHOMA LA W REVIEWtask of seeking to learn to communicate with understanding. Com-municating with understanding is the essence of the teaching andlearning process.Gene and Rose set out on the law school teaching and learningcareer aspect of what would develop to be their multiple careers in1.947. That summer they went to the College of Law of the Universityof Wyoming, located in Laramie. There Gene quickly began todevelop not only Dean Keeton's requisite degree of "perversity" butalso that quality of teaching and learning which is the Siamese-twin ofcommunicating with understanding. This latter quality is involved withperception, that is, perceiving and applying the teacher's half of amutuality of respect-a reciprocity of seeking to attain understanding.In their few years at Wyoming, Gene laid the touchstone for acquiringa technique that would allow him to share with thousands of studentsand lawyers the benefits of his learning and reasoning. But equally asimportant, and perhaps even more important, Gene and Rose com-menced an approach that might well be characterized as the "balance-wheel" of their lives.Within easy sight of the University of Wyoming's campus, andwithin a short distance thereof, was the Medicine Bow MountainRange. Gene and Rose were attracted to the white slopes of theMedicine Bow Range. They learned to ski there in the late 1940's, wellbefore the national interest in skiing developed. This ability to com-bine what is fun professionally in the classroom or the courtroom withfun in athletically demanding physical activities has been a hallmark ofthe fullness of their lives together.Before going to Wyoming, Gene had armed himself with two lawdegrees, a glimpse of private law practice, and a stint of several yearsin the navy. Gene and Rose left Laramie with the bedrock for alifetime of teaching and learning and with a way of life that wouldtranscend even that with a heightened appreciation of blending themental processes with the physical processes.The Complete Lawyer at OUMore than three decades ago, Gene and Rose came to the Univer-sity of Oklahoma College of Law from Wyoming. Building on thefoundation he had established at Wyoming, Gene quickly developed amaster teacher technique. His mastery of the interaction betweenlearning and teaching in the classroom brought the law of oil and gasand oil and gas taxation to the forefront among the most consistentlyheavily enrolled courses in the College of Law. Likewise, his teachingmethodology remained among the most highly respected and effectivethrough this current semester, his last to be with us as a teacher.[Vol. 34:3https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/3KUNTZ: PROFILEDuring the latter half of the 1960's, Gene served as Dean of theCollege of Law. These years, which covered the bulk of the VietnamWar and its aftermath, were beset by severe administrative difficulties.Policies promulgated in Washington intended to have a direct impacton military operations being conducted over a world away impactedvery heavily on legal education in Norman. Wide fluctuations in lawschool enrollment produced all of the problems attendant upon ad-ministering in the face of the uncertain or the unknown.During 1970-71, Gene was selected to serve as a Special Justice onthe Oklahoma Supreme Court. With that service honor, Gene roundedout the tripartite of lawyering-teacher, administrator, and jurist.But, what of the fourth dimension? Legal writing is difficult,demanding, and has a relatively small readership compared to morepopularized forms of writing. However, in law libraries locatedwherever the legal fraternity encounters problems related to exploringfor, drilling, producing, or processing oil and gas will very likely befound the volumes that comprise Kuntz, Law of Oil and Gas, a verypopular and monumental legal treatise. From the early 1960's to therecent time, much of Gene's and Rose's time has been dedicated topreparing the manuscripts and updating the pocket parts of Kuntz,Law of Oil and Gas. Perhaps, through some fortuitous happenstanceor by design, the name Kuntz is embracive enough to include bothGene and Rose. For the most visible evidence of the oneness of thetwo are the countless days that Rose has spent in the law schoolbuildings working with Gene on a wide variety of helpmate tasks, in-cluding the perennial copying, cutting, and pasting of reported cases.Just as the two went down the ski slopes in Wyoming together, sothrough the years they have together scaled the heights of reflectedscholarship in publishing.Culminating Gene's years of lawyering in Oklahoma, and in thisfinal semester of his teaching, he has been selected to become a Fellowin the American Bar Foundation. This very signal honor is fitting; itepitomizes and symbolizes the distinction with which the Kuntzes havelived their lives in Norman, in Oklahoma, and in nationally recognizedplaces.A Yank at Oxford (Revisited)In 1975 the Oxford University/University of Oklahoma SummerLaw Seminar Program was established jointly by the universities. Theinitial session of the program was held in the summer of that year atWorcester College, one of the more than thirty colleges comprisingOxford University. The faculty for that initial session included threeEnglish dons (professors) and three American professors of law, all1981]Published by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, 1981OKLAHOMA LA W REVIEWfrom ou:r law school. One of those from Oklahoma was, of course,Gene Kuntz, who brought to law students from law schools scatteredthroughout the United States his vast experience and knowledge of thelaw of oil and gas. (It is a side comment, but it is so singular it is worthmentioning, that during the summer of 1975 oil and gas wells were be-ing completed in the North Sea Fields, and that by the end of 1980 theproduction therefrom would be in an amount sufficient to make Bri-tain independent of imported foreign oil.)Oxford has been a citadel of learning for centuries; some of itscolleges were founded in the thirteenth century. So vast an amount oflearning has left both tangible and intangible impacts on the entire cityof Oxford. The varied buildings of the colleges and structuresthroughout the city reflect simultaneously some of the changes andsome of the sameness which transcend the passage of time frommedieval times to the present day. All of this leads to learning throughhours spent leisurely experiencing the beauty and symmetry of the in-ner grounids and courtyards of the many c'olleges, through troddingthe streets, pathways, and parkways where the scholars who have pro-duced so much scholarship and learning have trod, and, perhaps mostimportant, just the opportunity to live for a while in a country whosepeople, while very similar in many ways nevertheless are equally asdissimilar through many customs that are differently rooted fromours. One need but visit a historic pub to realize that "the pub" is aninstitution for which we have no counterpart.Rose had, of course, gone to Oxford with Gene. She participatedin making brass rubbings, another English activity for which we haveno equal. In essence, brass rubbing involves reproducing on a specialkind of paper the image of a brass likeness of a deceased historic per-sonage. They embellish crypts in churches throughout many areas ofEngland. The end product is unique; two particularly handsome onesmake striking wall hangings in Rose's and Gene's home in Norman. Theopportunities from travel offer learning possibilities that equal thoseof the classroom and living in Oxford. Gene and Rose traveled fre-quently with somewhat special emphasis on London, Canterbury,Coventry, Edinburgh, and Blackpool-a seaside town situated on theIrish Sea, where Gene had spent some time while in the navy.The Great Wall of OxfordAs mentioned above, Rose accompanied Gene to Oxford,but-as not yet mentioned-she did so with a fiberglass cast on herleg, the result of an accident in Norman. Her participation in all of thelearning, traveling, and experiencing mentioned above was not dilutedby her having to wear the cast, but one evening in Oxford she and[Vol. 34:3https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/3KUNTZ: PROFILEGene were severely tested. Worcester College is situated on the farwestern side of Oxford, while Lady Margaret Hall-where the Kuntzesresided in the summer of 1975-is on the eastern side of Oxford. Theseveral miles between the two are most conveniently and pleasantlytraversed for the mile closest to Lady Margaret Hall by walkingthrough University Park in the Norman Manor portion of Oxford.University Park is surrounded by a wall, perhaps seven or eight feethigh, with a gate at the western edge of the park for convenient accessto the Central District, and a similar gate at the north, adjacent toLady Margaret Hall. One evening during the summer, Rose and Genepassed through the western gate before it was locked, although theyknew the time for locking the gate was close. At something less than atrot and more than a saunter, they covered the path to the north gate,which, lo and behold, was locked! After some gate-rattling, theyassessed the alternatives-spending the night in the park or scaling thewall. Fortunately, it was readily apparent that many persons hadpreceded them in similar plights, for there were developed notches orgrooves on their side of the wall, which they felt surely would exist onthe other side. One by one they ascended the wall, using the footholdsto get to the top, and clambered happily and safely down the otherside. Gene and Rose, once again, had scaled the heights!Gene's overall assertion, oft-repeated, about the summer of1975 is that it represented the single finest educational experience hehad ever enjoyed. Rose has always concurred. A few summers afterthat initial experience, Gene and Rose returned to Oxford, again forGene to teach in the summer program. Their comments have beenuniformly to the effect that repetition does not make Oxfordlackluster.Persons of FaithGene and Rose personify and manifest the myriad hues andshadings of persons of faith. Central to the many facets of their com-bined personalities which this effort has attempted to reduce to writingis a deep, abiding faith-faith in God, faith in themselves, faith inother persons, faith in life. Had they not shared so deep a faith, theycould not have experienced so much that their multifaceted per-sonalities have allowed them to enjoy. Gene's bearing, classroom man-ner, and the brevity of his reasoned, persuasive remarks at facultymeetings all stem from a deep wellspring of conviction and faith.Of Things to ComeAs part of a much deserved vacation, Gene and Rose plan to visitNew England during the early autumn. More particularly, they1981]Published by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, 19818 OKLAHOMA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:3plan to visit Vermont, considered by many persons to provide theheight of autumnal beauty as the season changes. If all goes well, theywill spend a yet undetermined number of days bicycling to view thetrees, as well as the forest. Time marches on-and so do the Kuntzes,but, fortunately, to the beat of a different drummer.https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/olr/vol34/iss1/3

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Eugene Kuntz--A Profile of the Person

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