Interviewer: Preetam Prakash

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Geoffrey Clark, a Waynesboro resident knowledgeable about local workforce development and economic affairs whom Preetam had spoken with had recommended Benny West as someone who might be willing to participate in the study. Preetam had contacted Benny soon after and they had arranged to meet at Benny’s house in a development on the outskirts of Waynesboro. Benny had begun working offshore in the mid 1970s and had remained in the industry until the mid 1980s. Benny had gone to work for an oilfield supply company based in Wayne County that dealt with onshore rigs after he graduated from high school. After working in the supply business for a few years, Benny had then gone to work offshore. He had worked in both derricks and drilling during his time in the industry and had finally left the oilfields because he had an opportunity to go to work as a plant manager for a local business when the offshore oil industry slowed down in the mid-1980s. He said that he sometimes wondered if he had made the right decision in leaving the industry when he did, and described the difficulty of getting used to the pay scales of locally available work after working offshore.