Fred Wrenn: Thank You For 50 Years Of Service

In the six years we have published Q&A, we have interviewed utility and service company presidents, engineers, regulators, lawyers, consultants, specialists of every sort who in one way or another have been involved in the natural gas and oil products pipeline business.

But none of them was ever more important than Kenneth Frederick (Fred) Wrenn, Jr., a former executive with Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. for 39 years and an independent consultant for 11 years.

We received a phone call from one of Mr. Wrenn’s daughters in Charleston, WV on May 29, seeking a way to let his many friends and former colleagues throughout the world know that he was being forced into an unexpected retirement because of his battle with cancer. He happened to have copies of P&GJ lying on his bed, so she picked up a copy and called us.

Our Q&A was designed for people like Mr. Wrenn. We sent a list of questions to his daughter and asked that she work with him generating his responses. You see, although he was seriously ill, the pipeline industry was a critical component of his life, and he wanted to leave a little something behind.

The responses were sent back to us on June 6 with his daughter saying that “he was very interested in answering your questions, and I know he felt honored that you thought people would be interested in his life.”

Mr. Wrenn’s condition deteriorated sharply over the next couple of days. On June 8 his daughter sent me his obituary. He was 70 years old.

This article is only part of Mr. Wrenn’s lasting legacy to the pipeline industry. Anyone who knew him can tell you that. He went to work for United Fuel Gas Company in Charleston in 1959 as a co-op engineer, and remained with United Fuel and its successor, Columbia Gas, until retirement in 1998. His positions included Chief Design Engineer of Compressor Stations, Manager of Compressor Applications, Director of Operations Engineering, Project Director, Vice President of Engineering, Vice President of Engineering and Construction and Vice President of Field Services. He was highly regarded within the natural gas transmission industry for expertise in gas compression applications, design, construction, operations and maintenance. After retirement, he operated his own consulting firm, Wrentech Services LLC.

He was co-founder and a member of the Gas/Electric Partnership of the Electric Power Institute, as well as a past member of the Executive Committee and Research Planning Task Group of the Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), Program Advisory Committee of the Gas Research Institute, Environment, Safety and Operations Committee of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and Gas Machinery Research Committee (GMRC) of the Southern Gas Association.

“Fred was a great friend and supporter of GMRC’s research program. Even after his retirement, he continued to stay in touch and participate as often as he was able. He will be missed.” - Marsha Short, GMRC Vice President.