Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Morgan City, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Doris Mullendore was recommended by Steve and Jean Shirley and by Val Mullen. She is one of three founding members of the Morgan City Chapter of the Desk and Derrick Club. She is currently the bookkeeper for the First Baptist Church in Morgan City but worked for several companies associated with the oil and gas industry. When I asked her if she would be willing to be interviewed for the study, she agreed, and we met at her house.

Doris was born in Lafayette, Indiana and moved first to Oregon as a child and then to Amelia, Louisiana in 1946 as a young teenager. She graduated from Morgan City High School and took a job as a bookkeeper for a local Buick agency. When the owner bought a crew boat, she began what was to become a career in the offshore oil and gas industry. She left that company to work for a pipe and supply company, worked for a short time for a hardware store, and then in 1976 got into the diving business with a couple of friends. That company folded in 1986 during the downturn, and Doris worked for a few different companies until she got a job with Morgan City Rental, where she stayed until her retirement. In 1966, Doris helped found the Morgan City Desk and Derrick Club, an organization for women who worked in the offshore oil and gas industry (see Moye Boudreaux (DA014) and Debi Baiamonte (DA033)).