Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Houston, TX

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I met Mary Ann Galletti at the president's reception of the Association for Diving Contractors meeting in New Orleans. Mary Ann's husband, John Galletti, was a co-owner of J&J Marine Services, one of the few Texas diving companies that was able to get jobs in Louisiana in the early days. John was one of the founding members of the ADC. The ADC named an award after John after his death from cancer in 1977. Mary Ann and I talked with a couple of divers and company owners at the reception and then went to dinner later at the motel restaurant. We talked for several hours and arranged that I would interview her on my next trip through Houston. I drove to Louisiana for the July field session so that I could stop at several places on the way back. I called Mary Ann, and she was happy to arrange an interview. We agreed that I would meet her at the office of S&J Diving where she is now employed. We talked a bit at the office while Mary Ann finished up work, and then we went to her apartment. I spent the next two days talking with Mary Ann and going through several large boxes of files that she has from the days of J&J. Though John was the company's owner, Mary Ann ran the office, scheduled the divers, and kept things going. After John's death, she kept the company going for several years until finally selling it to CalDive. I taped our first two conversations, but Mary Ann was not comfortable with the tape and asked that we talk without it. The latter part of this discussion is recorded only in my notes.

Mary Ann was born in 1938 in Galveston, Texas. She began working at age 10 at a neighborhood store owned by John's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Galletti. John was gone for many years; he was 11 years older than she was and had left Galveston to enter the SeaBees. John returned to Galveston and worked at a couple of jobs before beginning work as a commercial diver. He and Mary Ann were married in February 1956 when she was 18. They moved to Pasadena, Texas in August. Mary Ann had their first of five children in 1957. From the beginning, she worked with John, first helping with billings and repairing gear and later, as the company grew, managing the office.