Interviewer: Tyler Priest

Affiliation: University of Houston

Joe Lochridge grew up in central Texas, and attended Rice University on a Navy ROTC scholarship. He served aboard an active-duty destroyer during the Korean War, and then had the opportunity to transfer to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. An engineer, Lochridge moved to Brown & Root after leaving military service. He first worked in the marine design group, working on offshore structures primarily for Lake Maracaibo and the Gulf of Mexico. Lochridge was briefly detailed for Brown & Root work in Libya, but returned to Houston in time to start working on the landmark Project Mohole in 1962. During the remainder of his time at Brown & Root, Lochridge became involved primarily with pipeline work, including line laying and maintenance.