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Oil field worker known for devotion to son, cooking
| Sunday, May 18 2008 10:14 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 19 2008 7:44 AM
The timing was so ironic. It was oil field worker Julius A. Askew’s first day on the job.
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Julius Askew and his son, Riley James Edward Terrel. Askew was found unresponsive Friday around 6 p.m. in an oil lease in rural McKittrick. He was pronounced dead a short time later. (Photo courtesy of Tracy Terrel)
Julius A. Askew was found unresponsive Friday around 6 p.m. in an oil lease in rural McKittrick. He was pronounced dead a short time later. He is pictured here during a kick boxing match. (Photo courtesy of sherdog.com)
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The hefty U.S. Navy veteran and former athlete had worked for Ensign United States Drilling previously, but left to pursue other odd jobs while he tried to finish college, save for a house and maybe realize his dream of opening a catering business or restaurant. The odd jobs didn’t pay as well, he later concluded, so he got the oil gig back.
Until an autopsy is completed, it won’t be clear exactly why Askew, 27, collapsed on the Cymric oil lease in rural McKittrick about 6 p.m. Friday and died a short time later, but his body temperature was higher than 108 degrees, according to the coroner’s office. Friday was the hottest day of 2008 at 103 degrees.
Askew left behind a 3-year-old son, Riley James Edward Terrel, whose mother, Tracy Terrel, remembered cautioning Askew when she found out he’d be working outside in the season’s first significant heat wave.
“I did the whole mom thing, told him to drink lots of liquids,” she recalled Sunday as family members gathered to support her toddler son. “He said, ‘Yeah, yeah.’”
Cal-OSHA is investigating the workplace fatality, and Ensign is cooperating and conducting an internal investigation of its own, said area manager Matt Rohret.
“We follow Cal-OSHA guidelines and are pretty proactive when it’s hot like it was,” he said. “We provide for hourly drink breaks and there was water and energy drinks to replace electrolytes on site. Afterward, we asked if he was hydrating, and to a man everyone on that crew said he was drinking water all day at regular intervals. In fact, when this happened, he’d just had a break at 5:30.”
Rohret called Askew’s death tragic and bizarre, and said the weekend’s unusually high temperatures don’t bode well for “what seems like is going to be a vicious summer.”
Cal-OSHA could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Although Askew and his son’s mother were no longer together, Terrel’s family remained fond of him after the relationship ended and called him a devoted, hands-on father who visited his son several times a week, often bathing the boy and changing his diapers.
“Riley James was very close to his daddy,” said Terrel, 34. “I’ve tried to explain, but he’s too young to really understand the concept of heaven. Sometimes he still thinks his daddy is coming to see him. Other times he seems really sad, much more clingy than usual. If I even leave the room for a second, he calls out to me to make sure he knows where I am and that I’m coming back.”
Terrel’s mother, Victoria Terrel, 53, had to euthanize her 13-year-old Chow earlier this year.
“We just went through this with my dog, so it wasn’t totally new to him,” she said. “He understands that when the dog went to heaven, she didn’t come back.”
The elder Terrel paused and sighed heavily. “And next month is Father’s Day. I lost my father very young, too. That’s what hurts my heart.”
Askew joined the Navy straight out of high school and enrolled at Cal State Bakersfield after he was discharged. He boxed professionally and wrestled in college, where he still took classes off and on with the intention of graduating and starting his own business. He loved to cook, and hoped to do it for a living one day. Friends and family raved about such signature dishes as barbecue turkey, barbecue ham, ribs and peach pie.
“Oh, that man could cook, and bake, too,” said the younger Terrel’s aunt, Clara Basta, 50. “At holidays and stuff, we all looked forward to whatever he was going to bring.”
Askew liked to eat, too. The Terrels joked that once, after he missed the neighborhood ice cream truck, he jumped in his car to track the driver down. He’s passed the ice cream penchant to his son, they added. Riley James’ eyes light up whenever he hears the truck’s musical tune, which he now associates with his father passing him a cool treat.
The oil worker’s sister, Octavia Askew, 25, remembered her brother as a devout Christian who doted on his son and perfected his culinary skills by “burning up the kitchen.”
“He was a dedicated, hard working man who was always ready to give advice and help people,” she said. “He was an inspiration, a role model to me. I looked up to him when I was little. I always wanted to follow him around.”