Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonRob Christ attended Louisiana Tech University and emerged with dual degrees in aviation and accounting. After a stint as a CPA, Christ joined up with the work of his father, C.J. Christ, in the subsea diving and remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) industry along the Gulf Coast. Hired by Oceaneering as an ROV technician, Rob Christ was also able to assist with his father’s historical work in the Gulf of Mexico,...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonMarshall Cloyd studied engineering at both Berkeley and Southern Methodist University before finishing a master’s at Stanford and Harvard Business School. In 1959, Cloyd began working in Mississippi for Brown & Root. Before long he followed the firm into the early platform design efforts in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, engineering parts of the heavy drilling barges needed in the Arctic environment. Cloyd later...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonWindell Curole served as the General Manager of the South Lafourche Levee District for over thirty years, overseeing hurricane and flood protection projects. Previously, Curole worked as the Assistant Director for the Lafourche Parish Emergency Preparedness. Curole’s involvement in coastal activities has led him to serve on various committees and organizations including the Governor’s Coastal Restoration...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonLawrence B. “Buck” Curtis graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1949 and promptly went to work for Conoco in its Wyoming oil fields. Curtis soon wound up leading a burgeoning engineering group for the company in its New York City office, overseeing international efforts. At the Fetah area in Dubai, Curtis helped to pioneer the use of underwater oil storage domes in the 1960s. In 1972, Curtis was...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonElmer “Bud” Danenberger III has a long and distinguished career as an offshore oil and gas expert in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Trained as an engineer at Pennsylvania State University, Danenberger took a job in 1971 with the now-defunct Conservation Division of the United States Geological Service. Danenberger played a key role during a busy period in which the Outer Continental Shelf program was...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonCharles “Chuck” Enze grew up in South Dakota, where he attended South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, graduating in 1975 as a civil engineer. Enze took on with Shell Oil at the start of 1976, eager to work on offshore platform designs for the Gulf of Mexico. In 1977 he was tapped to assist the design and construction team for the Cognac deepwater platform. After stints with Shell in Houston;...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonFrank Frankhouser attended Lehigh University, where he earned a degree in civil engineering before serving as a company officer in the U.S. Army in the Korean War. Come peacetime, Frankhouser signed on with the Dravo Corporation, doing heavy civil construction and engineering. When Dravo expanded into the offshore business in 1969, Frankhouser was tapped to be the vice president and general manager of Dravo...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonWagner Freire was born and raised in Brazil, where he completed five years of civil and nuclear engineering education in 1957. After graduation, Freire quickly joined up with Petrobras, the country’s national oil company, starting out by progressing through a two-year course in the nascent field of petroleum geology. From that point, in 1960, Freire served in roles pertaining to both surface geology and...

Scope and Contents Interviewer:Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonDick Frisbie was born in California but grew up in South Africa. He attended Virginia Tech, gaining a degree in mechanical engineering before working for Pratt & Whitney for three years. After several years in the U.S. Army, including time spent in-country during the Vietnam War, Frisbee returned stateside. At Old Dominion University, he earned a master’s degree in physical oceanography. He took on with...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler Priest and Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonDan Godfrey moved to New Orleans in 1968 after completing a master’s degree in structural engineering at Washington State University. Godfrey soon signed on with Shell Oil. Some of his early engineering work focused on introducing saltwater disposal methods, newly required by federal environmental laws passed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Other stints included work from The Hague on...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonJohn Gregory attended college at Stevens Institute before joining the U.S. Navy. Gregory’s career then took him to Boeing, to work on gas turbines, before working for the Naval Research Lab starting in 1958. By 1977, Dick Krahl recruited Gregory to join the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to help make sure that offshore operations were done in accordance with the requirement that they use the "best available...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonElmo Hubble grew up in the oilfields of Illinois, and graduated from Oklahoma University in 1958 with a degree in petroleum engineering. Hubble worked for the Federal Power Commission in Washington, D.C., for part of the 1960s, but found the U.S. Geological Survey far more amenable to his background and interests. After a stretch in New Mexico, Hubble transferred to New Orleans in 1964. There he helped to...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonJohn Rossman Huff played football at Rice University and Georgia Tech in the 1960s, and he graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the latter. After graduating in 1968, Huff joined the Offshore Company before signing up with Zapata in 1970. At Zapata, Huff was involved in major business operations, where he especially enjoyed the marine side of the work. Huff moved to Oceaneering in 1986, at the...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonDwight Johnston grew up in Dallas, Texas, into a family full of engineers. He attended Texas A&M University, and graduated with a degree in civil structural engineering. In 1978 he went to work in the oil patch with Shell, and remained with the company for over 32 years. Johnston served in Houston and California, but landed in 1988 in the New Orleans area for good. There, Johnston got on the ground...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonOllie “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...