Interviewer: Jason Theriot

Affiliation: University of Houston

Ollie “Double-O” Jones grew up near Nacogdoches, Texas, where he finished high school in 1949. Soon after graduation, the Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. (Tenneco) came in to survey a pipeline path, and Jones joined the company that August. Jones moved so as to follow the progress of the work, and stayed on, surveying other lines like the Grand Chenier in the early 1950s. While still in his mid-20s, Jones worked as a “rod man” on the Muskrat line from the Atchafalaya River eastward, clearing the way through the brush and vegetation. After a long career with Tenneco, Jones retired in 1996, having accrued an impressive forty-seven years with the company.