Interviewer: Preetam Prakash

Afiliation: University of Arizona

Robert Boles was a resident of Stonewall, MS who had contacted Preetam shortly after the Meridian Star featured an article about the study. Robert was born in Stonewall, MS, about 15 miles south of Meridian. Stonewall and the nearby community of Enterprise were historically highly dependent on the nearby denim plant for local employment. Robert worked in the denim plant himself before another local, already employed offshore, was able to get him a roustabout job in the mid 1970s. Robert had continued to work offshore until 2008 when his health forced him to retire permanently. He spoke a great deal during the interview about the considerable changes that he had witnessed during his time working in the industry, especially the transformations in the work cultures of major oil companies during the 1980s and onwards.