Interviewer(s): A. Gardner; R. Higgins; D. Austin; B. Plumb. Morgan City, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Santo Rousso is a member of the Mobil Retirees' Old Salts Club. He worked most of his career for Magnolia (later Mobil) Oil Company. All in all he had a good time with them, but midway through his career he grew tired of the constant relocation and tried working for a couple years for a contractor in Morgan City. He spent most of his early career working the seismograph crews. This would eventually take him to all parts of the world, and for many years his family would relocate around the U.S. as the new jobs came up. After he quit, he came back to Mobil in the Marine department, which is under the production department. For the purposes of this study, the most valuable information here will probably concern impacts to the family, his description of Mobil's willingness to take him back after he quit, and his wife's description of her concerns about his job security. She has a fairly significant chunk of the first interview. The second interview was conducted as part of the study of the links between WWII and the offshore industry.

Santo Rousso was born in Morgan City in 1921. He worked in his father's grocery store as a young man and then joined the Air Force. He returned to Morgan City in 1945 after WWII ended. He opened a radio repair shop in town and then began working part-time for Magnolia Oil Company. They kept him so busy that he had to close his shop. He began developing seismograms, did seismic work, and became a geophysical helper. He moved throughout the United States, alternating time in Morgan City with assignments elsewhere. He retired in the late 1980s.