Interviewer(s): Colleen O'Donnell; Christina Leza; Diane Austin. Morgan City, LA.

Affiliation: University of Arizona

We were referred to Laurie J. Vining by Fannie Hobbs who had been interviewed for the offshore history project. Fannie showed us a collection of local World War II veterans' biographies that she had been working on. Laurie was one of Fannie's friends and interviewees who participated in her project. She told us that after working in the Landing Craft Division during the War, Laurie had returned to the area to do work in the oil industry, which made him a perfect interviewee for our research. The first interview was conducted as part of the study of the links between WWII and the offshore industry. Diane then returned the following day to talk at greater length about Laurie's work in the oil field.

Laurie J. Vining Sr. was born March 1, 1924 in Morgan City, Louisiana. He started school in Amelia, but moved around a lot growing up since his father was a trapper and moved where he could find work. As a result, it took Laurie a long time to get through school and he quit after the 7th grade. He worked in shrimping and ironworks before he was drafted into the Navy in 1943. Started working for Kerr-McGee after the War in 1949 and worked for the company for thirty-three and a half years. Laurie started working as a deckhand and worked up to boat captain. He worked his last couple of years with Kerr-McGee in the office and retired in 1982. Laurie has two brothers and two sisters, and he appeared in the film Thunder Bay.