Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): James Sell; Lauren Penney; Colleen O'Donnell. Gray, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI (Jim) had known that Lloyd Geist was the pioneer aviator in Houma, who set up the first flying service after his military service in WWII. CJ Christ set up the interview as a way of recording Lloyd's experiences in both WWII (he was a combat fighter pilot) and the oil field. The interview with Mr. Geist then represents a view of aviation pioneering in the area. ...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteAl George was born in 1928 in Alexandria, Louisiana. His father was a railroad man but lost his job during the Great Depression. As a result, his father resorted to farming to feed his family. After the Depression, he was given his railroad job back. He graduated high school in Winnfield in about 1944 and went to LSU on a football scholarship. At LSU he was in ROTC, studied...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Metairie, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI met Beverly George at the Desk and Derrick Club meeting in New Orleans in March (see also DA036). She was one of the early members of Desk and Derrick and shared that she had been Doc Laborde's executive secretary. When I asked her if she would be willing to do an individual interview, she agreed and told me to contact her the next time I was in New Orleans. I called her in July and arranged to...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): A. Gardner. Metairie, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI was referred to Jimmy Gibbens by Jerry Shea in New Iberia. Between the time Jerry recommended an interview with Jimmy and the day of the actual interview, I bumped into quite a few Texaco hands who knew Jimmy, and not a single one of them had a bad word to say. Jimmy used to work for Jerry's grandfather back in the 30's, and their families have been friends ever since. Jimmy and his wife have...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): J. P. Theriot. Houston, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalJim Giblin, a native of Virginia, lives in Friendswood, TX. He spent more than 40 years in the maritime industry. He joined the Merchant Marine in 1942 and served on tankers and Liberty Ships during the war delivering oil and supplies to the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and the Pacific. His ship, the Stephen F. Austin, was torpedoed off the coast of North Africa in '43,...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): James Sell; Lauren Penney; Betsy Plumb. Bourg, LA and Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaSelwyn Gilmore was first referred to me by Ed Henry, who knew him from their veterans' organization. Ed had contacted him and gained his prior approval for an interview in Winter 2003. He was also recommended by Lloyd Dagenhardt, who considered him a very good friend, whose friendship developed at first by radio contact alone. I was able to finally...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin; Andrew Gardner, Colleen O'Donnell. Morgan City,LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaA couple of different people pointed me in Jake Giroir's direction. Jimmy Hebert in New Iberia suggested I catch up with him, as did Lou Trosclair. Jake also participated in our last project in the region, so he was familiar with the team. He eats breakfast every morning at Manny's, and I bumped into him there. We made an appointment to meet for an...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): A. Gardner. New Iberia, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI met Maxie Giscliar at the Shell retiree's dinner in New Iberia, Louisiana. I was finally able to set up a time for an interview. The Gisclairs live in a nice house in one of the satellite subdivisions in New Iberia. Maxie had a stroke in 1995, and as a result, he has trouble with numbers. His wife sat in for the interview, participated, and helped Maxie through some of the questions. The...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): E. Bernier. Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaRichard Goodroe lives across the street from Burleigh and Molly Ruiz. I had stopped by to visit with the Ruiz family, and Richard stopped in to bring them some fruit from his trees. We got to talking and decided that he would be a good person to interview. He worked for BJ Casing Co. for many years but had experience in many aspects of the oil industry. We set up the interview for the next week. ...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Dallas, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalRobert Graebner spent nearly all of his career at GSI, where he provided a crucial interface between research and operations. He received a bachelor's degree in engineering physics from the Colorado School of Mines in 1948 and joined GSI the next year. He became a geophysicist of international stature at GSI. He held a series of management positions at GSI, including...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Thibodaux, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI met Karen Gray and her mother, Moye Boudreaux, at the Le Fete de Ecolgie festival hosted by the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program and Estuary Foundation in September 2001. The two women had walked under the tent to rest out of the sun and happened to see our booth. They started talking about their experiences in the oil and gas industry. I asked them if they would be willing to...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): A. Gardner. Metairie, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI met B.T. Green in his home in Metairie. He was recommended to my by Jimmy Gibbens, who lives nearby and also worked for Texaco. B.T. was a very knowledgeable participant, and because of his position with Texaco, we covered a lot of ground in this interview that was beyond the purview of many of the other study participants. This interview includes a description of Texaco's early geological...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteBorn in 1930 in Port Arthur, Texas, Ed Gremillion was raised in Sunset, Louisiana. His father worked for Humble Pipeline and his mother was a cook. He went to Southwestern Louisiana Institute to study commercial art and then entered the Navy; after his two-year trip was over the Korean Conflict erupted and he was forced to stay in until 1954. In 1956, he went to work as a sales...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Morgan City, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI met Billye Grice at the Morgan City Archives in the summer of 2003 when I was there reviewing the archives of the Morgan City Daily Review and the vertical files on the offshore oil and gas industry. Her husband, Jesse, created a business doing oilfield photography in Morgan City during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, and she has donated his collection to the archives. She and I began...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): T. McGuire. Golden Meadow, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaAfter several failed attempts to see Harrison Cheramie, Sr., proprietor of the Port Fourchon Marina/Motel, I drove down there one Saturday. He was there, tending the bait shop he operates at the marina. He asked me who I had been talking to and who else was on my list and scoffed at most of the names (either they didn't know anything, or that they had crossed him over past Port Commission...