Challenge: log cabin, father gone half the year, mother scraping pennies, boy who had to count every coin twice before he spent it.
Accountable: didn’t blame the dirt floor or the empty jar—he said “this is my start, I’ll make it end different.” Kept a ledger in his pocket, every cent tracked, every debt paid.
Assimilated: America was thrift, he was thriftier. Oil boom hit—he didn’t ride it, he steered it. Standard Oil wasn’t luck, it was discipline.
Allegiance: gave $540 million—hospitals, universities, science labs. Not for statues, for cures. Said “I owe the world an opportunity.”
Permanent: discipline wasn’t a habit, it was blood.
Prudent: saved like it was oxygen.
Pragmatic: monopoly broken? Fine. Split it into Exxon, Chevron, Amoco—still wins.
Lemons: broke, absent dad, no inheritance.
What he made: medicine that breathes, schools that teach, a system that lasts.
Read: Titan by Ron Chernow—he doesn’t flinch.
Grateful Immigrant 