Red Adair, Brian Krause and Raymond Henry, Piper Alpha Tragedy, 1988
Raymond Wesley Henry (1944-2020) passed away June 9, 2020 in Houston; he was 76 years old. Raymond was one of the world's premiere oil well well firefighters and blowout control specialists. He was good friends with Red Adair's son, Jimmy, and grew up in Red and Kimmie's neighborhood in Houston. Adair hired Raymond 1978, shortly after firing Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews and Red had enough faith in Raymond to send him to the Bay of Campeche in 1979, by himself, to acertain the extent of great Ixtoc blowout. Raymond was with Red in the North Sea in 1988, on the Piper Alpha tragedy. Raymond also played a primary role in Kuwait in 1991, among countless other successful well control events.
Raymond Henry, Boots Hansen, Joe Bowden and Larry Flak, Kuwait, 1991
According to Adair's biography, An America Hero, so cool, calm and collected around big blowing wells was Raymond Henry the Saudi's once nicknamed him, "the man with no nerves."
25 Year Kuwait 1991 Anniversary in Houston; from left to right, Richard Hatteberg, David Thompson, Raymond Henry, Dave Wilson and some nobody I don't know. The first three gentlemen need no introduction as to their role in world wide blowout control; Richard and Raymond were good friends and worked together on many blowing wells over the years.
The well control community mourns the loss of another great legend in its long, colorful past. Rest easy, Raymond.