Interviewer(s): E. Bernier. Bourg, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I got F.J. Matherne's name from his niece, Sue Olin. Sue is a friend of Corine Paulk's and active in Indian Education. F.J. has turned out to be my best contact and a friend as well. I was at his house doing the second interview the morning of September 11. He and his wife, Mavis, were extremely helpful, kind and supportive on an extremely difficult day. Sue Olin had informed me that F.J. was quite a character, and he didn't disappoint! We started off the first interview with F.J. telling me a couple of jokes, the majority being slightly dirty in nature. F.J. is a smallish man with a twinkle in his eye that you catch as soon as you are welcomed into his modest house with a beautifully manicured lawn. The next thing one might notice is the lack of digits on both hands. He is missing the middle finger on his left and part of his pinkie on the right hand. He received the first injury during the first couple of years in the oilfield and was out for 3 months. The injury precipitated his move into production from drilling where he began. F.J. is a prolific storyteller remembering smells and colors as if the events had happened yesterday instead of 50 years ago. He has some wonderful stories about working with WWII German prisoners on a sugar cane farm where his daddy was an overseer. He and his brothers were all born near the house where he still lives today in Bourg, LA. He loves to travel and work in his yard. He also gardens a lot and is active in his church, which happens to be the same church that Corine attends.

F.J. Matherne began working for the oil field in 1952 as a roughneck for Laughlin Brothers and Southern 6. He began working for Texaco in 1956 starting off as a roughneck. He went into production after his finger got cut off on some air tongs in 1960. He worked his way up to gang pusher. His last 3 years at Texaco he was a barge foreman on a clean up barge. F.J. retired from Texaco in 1987.