Interviewer(s): R. Higgins. Morgan City, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Garver Watkins was born in 1933 in Patterson, Louisiana. He grew up in Berwick and attended high school in Morgan City. During the summers he worked in boat businesses that supported the oil industry, first with his father and then his uncle. He spent some time at the University of Southwestern and was drafted into the Army, serving two years in Korea. When his father's health declined, Garver took over the family boat business but the small enterprise was unable to keep up with costly regulations and eventually sold out. He got a job at McDermott in 1956 through personal connections and worked there for 38 years, starting out as a helper and working his way up to foreman and superintendent.