Interviewer(s): A. Anand. Thibodaux, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Frank and Joyce Naquin are friends and associates of Lucy and "Dee" DeHart, at whose home I had a bed and breakfast accommodation. They also have a B&B arrangement in Thibodaux. I met them at the DeHarts' the day I moved in, and they expressed interest in being interviewed - Frank worked at McDermott Shipyard for many years. We set up an interview in Thibodaux. Frank ushered me in and showed me some good pictures of boats made by McDermott. Joyce fed me a fresh biscuit and some homemade preserves before we did the interview - their granddaughter and a boy visiting from France were eating breakfast in the dining room. During the interview, Joyce often prompted Frank to tell certain stories. After the interview, Frank sent a bag of pears for the DeHarts with me.

Francis Naquin was born in Thibodaux in January, 1939, and completed his secondary education at Thibodaux High School. After working as a carpenter and then at a baby clothes factory, he joined McDermott in Amelia as a shipfitter helper in 1961. Other than a brief stint with the National Guard during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1961-62, he remained at McDermott, becoming a leader, a shipfitter foreman, a superintendent, and finally a group superintendent in the 1980s. He retired from McDermott in 1994 to begin a four year stint as a consultant to Wertzle, a company in Annapolis MD. In 1998, he also worked as a shipfitter consultant to Service Marine Inc. in Amelia.