Interviewer(s): Emily Bernier; Andrew Gardner. Bourg, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I was referred to Mr. Donald Naquin from calling Jerry Cunningham (Morgan City) upon first arriving in Louisiana. His father was a seasoned oil field hand. This helped him to keep his position even when the company was closing offices and laying off employees. Mr. Naquin had many pictures of disasters, too many it seemed! His office had many pictures proudly displayed. He said his wife made him take some of them down because there were just too many of them. He said he made a conscious effort to collect pictures when he was working on the rigs because he thought the oil industry was fascinating. Andrew Gardner went back to talk about the photos (AG040).

Donald Naquin began his oil career as a roughneck in 1955. He was only 19 when he began but figured that he was meant to be in the oil business since his father was as well. Donald Naquin began working at Wheless Drilling Co. In fact, he took over his dad's position when his dad was getting ready to retire. He went into the office one day to ask where he was going to be going that day, and his assignment was to go to his father's rig and relieve him. He worked for Wheless Drilling Co. his whole life. Donald retired form the oil industry in 2001. He took partial retirement at age 62 but stayed on as a consultant and then fully retired at age 65.