With the discovery of oil in the first few years of the 20th century, thousands of people flocked to Oklahoma, Texas, and surrounding states to seek their fortunes. Among them were F.S. and Ruth Freeland, who traveled into what had primarily been wheat and cattle country, searching for their own piece of this new bonanza. They must have been adventurous, because their journeys also took them to Ouray, Colorado, in search of gold.
The family, including daughters Virginia, Edwynne, and Thelma, eventually settled in Bristow, Oklahoma, a prosperous oil boom community, where F.S. worked as a drilling contractor. The Freeland girls grew up among other oil families. One family would have a life-changing effect on two of the girls. As teenagers, Virginia and Edwynne “Eddy” fell in love with two of the Krumme brothers, Harlan and George, respectively, and married them. The oil business would continue to be important to the Freeland girls. Their young husbands joined their father, Roy Krumme, to found Krumme Oil in 1946. In 1993, Harlan would establish a second company, Falcon Oil Properties.
The young women gave first priority to their families, but eventually, they were able to pursue their bachelor’s degrees, commuting from Bristow to The University of Tulsa. Virginia studied elementary education, and Eddy studied French. In the 1961 Kendallabrum, they are pictured side by side in the section devoted to Seniors. The Krumme couples moved to Tulsa, and Virginia went on to teach first and second grades and art; Eddy went on to earn her master’s degree in English literature and then taught French at Memorial High School. Eventually, she went to work at The University of Tulsa, becoming an assistant professor of French and a Faculty Fellow. George earned advanced degrees from TU in petroleum engineering (MS ’66) and geosciences (PhD ’75).
Both couples believed in community service and contributed their time and efforts to an array of organizations, including Camp Fire and Hillcrest Medical Center. Eddy held leadership roles in the Tulsa Council on Alcoholism, the Tulsa Chapter of the United Nations Association, and All Souls Unitarian Church. George Krumme was also active in this church, and he was well known for his involvement in the Oklahoma Democratic Party; in fact, an annual gala was named in his honor. Virginia and Harlan Krumme were active in University United Methodist Church, adjacent to TU’s campus. Virginia was also involved in Gilcrease Museum as a Gillie.
The Krumme family demonstrated its devotion to The University of Tulsa by supporting a wide array of programs over the years, including the TU Marching Band, the Golden Hurricane Club, the TU Annual Fund, KWGS, Nimrod International Journal, the Department of Geosciences, and the petroleum engineering program, among others.
The University of Tulsa lost dear friends when Harlan died in 1999, Virginia passed away in 2009, and Edwynne died in 2011. George Krumme married Aldean Newcomb in 2013, and he continued to support his alma mater until his death in 2024 at the age of 101.
In 1975, George and Eddy Krumme had chosen to honor the memory of her parents with what is now known as the Freeland Faculty Awards and Scholarship Endowment Fund. The annually distributed income from this endowment supports three merit-based scholarships and three merit-based awards for scholars studying French, philosophy, and the life sciences, or related disciplines. The University of Tulsa is deeply grateful for this endowment, which stands in tribute to F. S. and Ruth Freeland, the beloved parents of Eddy and Virginia Krumme.
