Interviewer(s): R. Carriker. Lafayette, LA

Affiliation: University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Mr. Warren "Dick" Farmer was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. His father was a freight train conductor with the railroad industry. He graduated high school in 1945 and joined the Marine Corps. He studied physical education at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) on the GI Bill until 1949, but never finished his degree. During that time he worked for Frank Mosing Casing Crews as part of casing crew on a rig and joined the Air Force Reserves. He served in the Air Force as a flight engineer during the Korean War and when he returned he went to work for Hughes Rental Tool Company. He worked for almost five years as a salesman in Lake Charles and New Iberia, before becoming a district manager in Houma. Next he became the southeast manager in Laurel, Mississippi, and then eastern regional manager in Jackson, Mississippi. When he was made central regional manger, he moved to Dallas, Texas. Later on he did work in Denver, Colorado, and London, England. When he returned back to Houston, he was a vice president in the company. In 1990, after 37 years, he retired and moved back to Lafayette. He provides detailed descriptions of how wells are drilled, particularly the function of drilling muds.