Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): J. P. Theriot. Houston, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalJim Edmonds has held the office of chairman of the Port of Houston Authority since 2000. His is a native of New Mexico and moved to Houston in 1966. He worked in various political offices, including the office of former Mayor Louie Welch, and worked in the private sector before coming to the Port of Houston. He has extensive knowledge about the history of the Port of...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Houston, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalMr. C. E. "Chuck" Edwards served in the Pacific during World War II and received his degree in geological engineering in 1949 from the University of Tulsa. He went to work for Standard Oil of Texas (SoTex) in Midland, TX and worked on seismic crews in West Texas through 1956. He became a supervisor in Houston and helped start the company's Seismic Integration Group. He...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz and D. DiTucci. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteOne of three boys, Mr. Bill Estevens was born in New Orleans in 1948. His father was a salesman from Avondale, Louisiana and his mother was from Thibodaux, Louisiana. He spent his childhood and youth moving around with his family in Florida and later southern Louisiana; he graduated from Thibodaux Central Catholic High School in 1966. He spent a year up at Michigan...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteOrde Evans was born in 1922 in Basil, Louisiana. After WWII, he moved to Lafayette in 1947, to work in rig construction. In 1979, he started his own consulting and production company called Oracle, and later expanded his business to Houston and then international markets. He was part of the Energy Committee in Washington, D.C., where they investigated different types of energy....

Scope and Contents

Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Houston, TX

Affiliation: University of Houston/History International

Sam Evans was a geophysicist/seismologist first with GSI in the 1950s, then with several other companies. He worked on early seismic crews in the Gulf of Mexico.

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): R. Carriker. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteMr. Warren "Dick" Farmer was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. His father was a freight train conductor with the railroad industry. He graduated high school in 1945 and joined the Marine Corps. He studied physical education at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) on the GI Bill until 1949, but never finished his degree. During that time he worked for Frank Mosing Casing...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Lakeaway, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalMr. R. L. Ferris graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1941 and started working for Shell shortly thereafter. He had several assignments in the mid-continent and Tulsa areas before becoming division production geologist for the Oklahoma Division in 1948. He became Senior Exploitation manager and spent time overseas from 1955-1956. He returned to the U.S. and...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): J. P. Theriot. Galveston, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalClyde Fitzgerald is a native of Houston. His father and two uncles worked as longshoremen on the Houston Ship Channel. He started working as a longshoremen in 1959. He worked his way through the ranks and became president of the International Longshoremen's Assocation (ILA), South Atlantic Gulf Coast District, which represents longshoremen union members from...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteJim Florstedt was born in 1944 and his father was in the State Department; the family moved frequently, never staying in a location for more than four years. He received a bachelor's degree from Eastern New Mexico University in geology and zoology in 1967. After graduating Texas Tech in 1969 with a master's degree, he went to work for Humble Oil Company in New Orleans. After...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Houston, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalMike Forrest got his B.S. in geological engineering from St. Louis University and joined Shell Oil in 1955. He moved through the company and became Senior Geophysicist for the New Orleans E&P area. It was here that he documented the bright spot phenomenon that changed the way Shell and the industry searched for hydrocarbons. He continued working for various branches of...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. DiTucci. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteRobert Fournet graduated in 1952 from Southwestern Louisiana Institute with a degree in geology; during his college years he did some roustabouting and roughneck work. Upon graduating he worked for Superior Oil Company as a roughneck, but was soon called into service with the Navy for a year. When he returned he went to work for Hycalog for two-thirds of a year and then for...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. DiTucci; S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteW.D. Frazell was born in 1913 in Resell, Texas, a small town near Waco. He received a BS degree at Southern Methodist University and a Master's degree in Geology at University of Texas at Austin in 1935. He worked for United Gas Line Company before going into the Navy during WWII. He moved to Southern LA in 1955, where he was responsible for drilling many oil wells. He...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. DiTucci; S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteW.D. Frazell was born in 1913 in Resell, Texas, a small town near Waco. He received a BS degree at Southern Methodist University and a Master's degree in Geology at University of Texas at Austin in 1935. He worked for United Gas Line Company before going into the Navy during WWII. He moved to Southern LA in 1955, where he was responsible for drilling many oil wells. He...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): J. Christy. Morgan City, LAAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalLogan Fromenthal was from Morgan City. He went to the University of South Louisiana in Lafayette and went to work for Shell Oil as a laborer in 1964 at the age of 19. He worked West Delta Block 30 and West Delta Blocks 105 and 133 and was promoted to gauger. Mr. Fromenthal transferred to the Domestic Raw Material Supply (Shell's transportation group) and worked there...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteMr. Lionel Galvan was born and raised in Texas. He went to Texas A&M for about a year and then, not wanting to be drafted into the Army (this was after the Korean Conflict), volunteered for the Marine Corps, where he served as a mechanic/crew chief for four years. After serving, he got his Airframe and Powerplant license from Spartan School of Aeronautics and, in 1961, got a...