Interviewer: Diane Austin

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Diane met Bill's sister, Rebecca McElhenney, at the Bays and Bayous Symposium in October 2008. The two were talking about offshore work when Rebecca mentioned that her brother worked offshore and lived in Meridian. This led to a discussion about the potential for Meridian as a study site and Rebecca's assurance that Bill would be interested in participating. Diane called Bill in November, agreed to follow up in January, and set up the meeting for January 18.

Bill’s family is from Mississippi but moved to Miami, Florida when he was in school. After high school he went to work for his father’s construction business and remained there until his father moved back to Mississippi and began raising cattle. Bill started his own business doing industrial sandblasting and commercial coatings and worked at it for several years until he decided to move back home to Mississippi as well. He worked on his dad’s farm and started a ready mix business, but when the business turned sour after several years, his cousin, who worked offshore, suggested he apply for a job as a mechanic. He started as an assistant mechanic on the Shell Auger platform and then moved into a position as a mechanic for Tideco. He remained with the company when it was bought by Hercules and has spent most of his career working on Rig 64.

When Preetam Prakash arrived in the area during the summer of 2010, he contacted Mr. and Mrs. Wooten and met with them at their home on several occasions. Their January 7, 2011 interview was also recorded. In that interview (PP678), Mr. Wooten discussed how much more difficult it had become in recent years for people in the area to find and maintain positions in the offshore oil industry. He mentioned that it had often become necessary for experienced workers to take substantial pay cuts and work in entry level positions, something which had affected him personally. He emphasized the high wages and good benefits which kept him working offshore, but expressed uncertainty about where the industry would head in the future. The January 7 interview was not transcribed but is included as an audio file in the project archives.