Interviewer(s): Tom McGuire; Diane Austin

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Melvin Bernard is part of the network of Chevron people I got into after first interviewing Butch Renois early on in the project. Some of the discussion deals with his recollections of the relations between Otto Candies and Humble: Otto could speak French, and thus negotiate land leases for Humble, so Humble gave Otto all of the company's supply/crewboat business. He also passed on some secondhand observations regarding Louisiana Land and Exploration' acquisition of huge tracts of land; the source was Loulan Pitre, Sr.

Gulf Oil drilled its first Southern Louisiana well on Melvin Bernard's grandfather's property, now below the Leeville Bridge. Melvin started school in Leeville, but the family moved up to Golden Meadow after a hurricane. His father and two uncles worked for Gulf before WWII. Melvin, now 69, began working for Texaco during high school; then he started with Chevron in 1961 and remained there until his retirement in 1990. In 1969, he was transferred onshore in the company's transportation division. His responsibilities included procuring supplies, services, and boats for the offshore operations