Interviewer(s): R. Higgins. Bayou Vista, LA.

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I had Ray's name on a list from the last time I was in town. My notes did not indicate what he had done, but only that he was involved very early in the history of offshore oil. I called him for the first time on Tuesday (6-26-01), and after I talked briefly with his wife, Ray and I chatted for about twenty minutes. He told me about some other jobs he had had and about his recent marriage. I told him more about the nature of the project. He was interested, if not excited, about the prospect of doing an interview. He told me to come by any time later in the week; he and his wife were going to be gone for the next couple of days. Ray and his wife live just a couple hundred feet from the bayou, near the high school in Bayou Vista. Ray and I sat on the screened porch, and his wife brought us each a soda and told us she would leave us to talk. Ray moved slowly but looked happy to be sitting and talking about his life. Even so, he did not know where to start at first. So, I asked him to tell me how he got started in oil.

Ray Boykin began working for Halliburton shortly after he was discharged from the Army in 1946. He worked for Halliburton's inland operations initially. He was based at first in Harvey, then Lake Charles and finally in Lafayette. While in Lafayette, he got the orders to switch to the company's offshore division. This change took place in 1948. After working in the local offshore division for only 8 months, Ray was sent to Venezuela for four years. He then returned to the states and was based in Morgan City, getting in on the "ground floor," for the next several years. In 1969, Ray was promoted to supervisor.