Interviewer: Jacob Campbell

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Merlin was first contacted during the History II study, after a Halliburton retirees’ breakfast, but was never interviewed. We met at his home just north of Houma, on land which his father once used to farm cane and dairy. He worked for Halliburton for 31 years; retiring in 1997 because he no longer wanted to deal with the terrible seasickness he experienced traveling offshore. He continues to meet regularly with other Halliburton retirees for coffee at a local donut shop every other Tuesday.

Mr. Talbot was born in 1941 in Houma. His father was from Napoleonville, and had received a land grant in Houma after the Depression to farm cane on. In 1966, pressured by his mother to get a “real job”, Merlin started with Halliburton as a bulk hand. He climbed steadily up the ranks, until moving from supervisor of a marine unit to the Halliburton Clean Gulf environmental department. When this division was sold to the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) in 1997, he retired. His son Ricky presently works for Halliburton offshore.