Interviewer(s): T. McGuire. Larose, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

L.D. McQuaid was referred to me by Butch Renois (their friendship seems to come through the Masonic Lodge, more than through oil-related jobs). At one point in the interview, we broke so that he could show me his gun collection - he still does some upland hunting and works in his wood-working shop in back of the house. After the interview, his wife Meredith cooked biscuits and made coffee. A plate on the kitchen wall: "Mac and Skinny."

L.D. "Mac" McQuaid was born on a farm in Illinois and went with his father and mother to hit the East Texas oil boom - in Luling. After serving in the war, he went back to Texas looking for work. Humble Company sent him to Golden Meadow to work on drilling barges. He went to Grand Isle and met friends of the family from Texas, working for Humble. He was offered a job with Humble Offshore, then was transferred to Rockport, TX in 1951 when things slowed down in Louisiana (the Tidelands dispute period). Houston Oilfield Material Company offered him a job in directional drilling and schooled him, and he ended up working all over, even down to Tierra del Fuego. He worked his way up to a supervisor for HOMCO, working on a salary plus commission. Then he got into sales - selling the company's directional and fishing tool job capabilities -- before he retired. He is 83 years old now, living with his wife, of the Golden Meadow Alario family. He bought several house lots from the Alario family, in what is known as the Alario-Curole Subdivision.