Interviewer(s): E. Bernier. Cut Off, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Mr. Jay Cochennic's name was given to me by Mrs. Viviane DeFelice of Larose. When I interviewed the DeFelices in January, I asked about finding someone who worked for Schlumberger, as we had not found anyone who had worked for them yet. Mrs. DeFelice told me she thought Mr. Cochennic had worked for Schlumberger. When I reached Mr. Cochennic in March, he was happy to be interviewed; in fact he suggested I come down the same day I initially called him. He and his wife Doris greeted me when I pulled up. They have a lovely home in Cut Off. There were fans going and the wind blowing and out back they had a partially covered pool, whichmade me feel like I was in the tropics.

Mr. Cochennic was born in Golden Meadow to a bar owner and his wife, a jewelry shop proprietress. He grew up living behind the bar and remembers every Saturday night listening to oilfield workers, shrimpers and oystermen fighting. He spent summers working for Exxon and Brown and Root while in high school. He was in the Air Force for six years and was trained in Radar. He got out of the service, returned to Louisiana, and almost immediately got a job at Schlumberger. He felt that he was well trained to work there because of all his technology training in the military. Schlumberger was a very technology-oriented business and invented many oil field tools. Jay worked his way up to an electronics technician and retired in 1997.