Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteLyle Mellington was born in 1925 near Sedan, Kansas, the southern part of the state. His father was a pumper in the oilfields and moved the family to Oklahoma when Mellington was about 10 years old. He graduated from high school a few months early because he was drafted into the Navy at the tail end of World War Two (1944); during that time he was trained in international Morse...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. New Iberia, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI was referred to Bob Merriman by Tom Angel, who described Bob as the expert on saturation diving. Bob was still working for Global Industries at the time of the interview, and I met him at the company offices at the Port of Iberia. We spent a couple of hours talking in a conference room, and then Bob gave me a tour of the training facilities and chambers.Bob joined the Navy in 1956...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Houston, TXAffiliation: University of ArizonaI first met Drew Michel at the 2000 meeting of the National Ocean Industries Association in Washington, D.C. I saw Drew again at the Offshore Marine Services Association meeting when I announced we would do the history study and then at Underwater Intervention, an international conference for the commercial diving and underwater operations industry that is organized through a partnership between...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Houston, TXAffiliation: University of ArizonaI met Peggy Michel when I arranged a meeting with her husband, Drew, to go over the photos he had contributed to the project. Peggy came in to listen while Drew and I were talking, and I discovered that she had worked in the offshore oil and gas industry as well. I suggested that I should interview her as well, and she began by telling me she did not know very much. However, when I assured her...

Scope and Contents

Interviewer(s): J. P. Theriot. Houston, TX

Affiliation: University of Houston/History International

Howard Middleton is from Centerville, Texas. Throughout his career, he served as an educator, public servant, and consultant. He was the first black man to be appointed as Port Commissioner (1976-1994).

Scope and Contents Interviewer(S): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteBorn in 1942, Ronnie Miguez was raised in Iberia Parish; he spent most of his school years in New Iberia, living with his grandparents, but went to middle school in Weeks Island. His father did a number of jobs, but spent 27 years doing carpentry work for a briquette plant. After graduating high school in 1962, he spent a few months working as a butcher, before getting a job with...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI learned about Charles Miller and his work for McDermott during my interview with his daughter, Lillian (see DA124, DA125). Though Charles had been very ill, he agreed to be interviewed for this study. I met him at his home in Houma, and we sat in the living room with copies of Jaramac, the McDermott company magazine, as we talked.Charles Miller grew up in Oklahoma, finished high...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): S. Wiltz. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteJim Miller was born in 1937 in Iowa and grew up in Missouri. The two degrees he earned in geology at the University of Missouri were broken up by a summer working for the California Company in Colorado and a stint in the military with service in Korea. In 1963, he got a job with the California Company and moved to Lafayette. Over the next 36 years he moved between Lafayette and New...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Lafayette, LA, Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI learned about Lillian Miller from Deborah Schultz and Kerry St. Pé at the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. When I first contacted Lillian, she was unable to get together for an interview because she was taking care of both her father and her aunt who needed assistance. We exchanged many phone calls and had talked a number of times when we finally were able to arrange a...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaLynda Miller was referred to me by Lillian Miller. Both women were among the earliest female pioneers in the offshore petroleum industry and had met each other on an earlier occasion, drawn to notice one another by the similarities in their names. They are not related. One my June 2006 trip to southern Louisiana, I went to visit Lillian and learned that she had invited Lynda to her house to...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): J. P. Theriot. Pearland, TXAffiliation: University of Houston/History InternationalCharles Mills is a native of Galveston, Texas and spent fifty years in the maritime industry. He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine in the late 1930s and sailed for Lykes Brothers Shipping. During this time he joined the National Maritime Union. In WWII he sailed out on the first Liberty Ship build by Brown Shipyard in Houston. He nearly lost his life during a U-boat...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): E. Bernier. Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI received Roland Mitchell's name from Amy Whipple and Daryl Eshete at the library back in July. He has been on the contact list since then. I stopped by the main branch library to talk to Daryl and asked about Roland again as I hadn't met any other helicopter pilots. I called Roland and told him about the project and he was eager to help in any way he could. He told me that he had been in the army...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): J. Sell. Houma, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaRichard Molaison is another retired oil worker involved in the Houma-Terrebonne Council on Aging. He and his wife, Virginia, were involved in the interview. Virginia, in fact, asked to make a statement about the good treatment she received from the oil companies in maintaining family contact.The son of a streetcar/bus driver, Richard Molaison dropped out of high school to serve in the...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): R. Carriker. Lafayette, LAAffiliation: University of Louisiana at LafayetteMr. Roy Montgomery was born in 1920 in Lafayette, Louisiana. His father died when he was four years old. He attended Lafayette High School and then went to the University of Southwestern Louisiana from 1940 until 1941. In 1941, when his brother went into the service, he took his place as a rod man for City Service Oil Company. By 1942 he had been promoted to driller and...

Scope and Contents Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Patterson, LAAffiliation: University of ArizonaI arrived at Perry Flying Service to interview Val Mullen, and Val told me that Sharon Moore, one of the few female helicopter pilots working in the Gulf, happened to be in because no flights were going offshore due to fog. She said that she would trade her interview time so I would get the chance to talk with Sharon. Sharon agreed to be interviewed, and she and I went into Val's office to...