Interviewer(s): D. Austin; B. Plumb; R. Higgins; L. Penny. Houma, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I was referred to Arthur Lee by Earl King, Jr. Earl owns and operates King Trucking in Morgan City and told me that Mr. Lee had worked for Mr. Patterson of Patterson Trucking, one of the earliest oilfield trucking companies in the area. Though it took several months to coordinate our schedules, Mr. Lee was happy to be interviewed and asked me to meet him at Saadi's Haberdashery, where he is currently employed. The second interview was conducted as part of the study of the links between WWII and the offshore industry.

Arthur Lee was born in Abbeville on a rice farm, but his father moved the family to Texas when he was only two years old. His mother died when he was 16, and two years later, when his father remarried, Arthur moved to Lafayette to be near his older brother. There he began working and enrolled in Southwestern University. He finished college in January 1943 and spent three years in the Pacific during WWII. When he returned, he worked for a furniture company until being recruited to Houma to work for Mr. Patterson in his trucking company. Although the elder Mr. Patterson died in 1952, Arthur stayed with Patterson Trucking until he retired in 1986. During that time, the Pattersons also operated a mud and chemical company, a pipeyard, and a rental tool company. Four years after retiring, Arthur began working part time for Saadi's Haberdashery and is still employed there.