Interviewer(s): Diane Austin; Betsy Plumb. Thibodaux, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I was referred to Nelson Constant by his granddaughter, Alana Owens, who was working as an intern for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. She accompanied me to the first interview. Nelson's wife sat at the kitchen table through most of the interview, but she did not say much. A couple of times she made a comment or two, but she asked that she not be recorded. Nelson had a notebook of photos from his work as a surveyor, and I visited him a second time to do a photo interview. The third interview was conducted as part of the study of the links between WWII and the offshore industry.

Nelson was born in 1914 and raised in Kramer, Louisiana. His childhood was unique because his mother was a teacher and ensured that he finished high school, even though it meant he had to live with several different aunts. He entered the oilfield after working in his daddy's store for several years and getting to know a party chief who did business with the store. He began with a survey crew in the swamp and advanced quickly to surveyor and permit man, jobs which he kept for most of his 23-year career in the industry. When he left the industry, Nelson went to work planting soybeans for about 8 years and then built some crawfish ponds.