Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Boutte, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Joyce is the widow of Joe Savoie, a diver who developed his own line of diving helmets. Several of the divers asked me if I had interviewed Joyce, so I called her and she said she would be very happy to do an interview because she is very proud of her husband. I met her at her house and we visited for about six hours. She told me about being married to Joe, his work as a diver and inventor, and the life they had together. She showed me Joe's first helmet, which is the one he wore. We also went out and looked at his workshops in the backyard. Most of the equipment he used is still in the yard and the shops.

Joyce and Joe were married 38 years. Joe was ten years older than Joyce when they married. They met when Joe walked into the telephone answering service for which Joyce was working and Joyce decided she was going to get him. Joyce was born in Lafayette and moved with her family to the west bank, which is where she was living when she met Joe. Joe was born in 1929 in Point a la Hache, then lived in Houma and Westwego before moving to Boutte with Joyce. They were married on January 30, 1965. Joe was in the Air Force for 15 years but left after he hit a lieutenant, broke his hand, and saw his rating go down. His brother, Blue, was diving when Joe came home, and Joe began working for him as a tender. He began making his diving helmets in 1963 when he was working for Dick Evans Divers and wanted something that would be safer for the divers. He worked until he became ill in 1998; he died on March 10, 1999, the day of the diver's reunion.