Interviewer(s): J. Piekielek; S. Kennedy. Dulac, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Mary Voisin, the receptionist at the Dulac community center, mentioned the Harry Bourg Corporation to us when we first arrived in Dulac. She suggested that we get in touch with her sister-in-law, Lydia Voisin, because she might be able to tell us some of the history of the corporation. I called Lydia, and she said that the corporation probably had some old articles or other materials describing the history of the organization. She also said that her mother, Mildred Voisin, had been president of the corporation and might be willing to talk to us. I called Mildred Voisin, and she said she had a few written materials that we could come over and take a look at. She said she was trying to put a book together for her kids, so they would have the history of her father, Harry Bourg. Mildred Voisin lives in a brick home on Grand Caillou Drive. Her kitchen looked like it was the latest and best when it was built in 1965, and she told us that after it was made for her, everyone else started getting cabinets like she had. Mildred Voisin was clearly proud of her father, Harry Bourg, and was most interested in telling us his stories, rather than any of her own. She still seemed upset and angry about the 1999 lawsuit and family infighting in the Harry Bourg Corporation, but told us the story without our prompting.

Mildred Voisin was born in 1919 in Dulac, where she has lived almost all of her life. Her father was Harry Bourg, a man who began his career as a trawler and trapper and was later a prominent landowner in the area. In 1938, oil was found on property owned by Harry Bourg, resulting in the deepest producing well in the world at that time. Inventor and entrepreneur, Harry Bourg was the first millionaire in Dulac. Mildred Voisin witnessed many changes in Dulac over her lifetime and was vice-president of the Harry Bourg Corporation from 1982 to 1999.