2002-09-19

Center for Public History, University of Houston; University of Houston Libraries, University of Houston

This is an oral history interview with Larry Smith conducted as part of the Houston History Project. Larry Smith was born in 1932 in Crowley, but was raised in New Iberia. His father was a drilling production superintendent for Texaco. He graduated high school in 1951 and went to Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) where he was pre-medicine, he worked in the oilfields as a flunkey on his summer breaks. He decided he wanted to fly and so applied and was accepted into the Air Force cadet training school in 1954, because of problems with his eye sight, he was not allowed to fly and was instead put into the special weapons group of the Strategic Air Command. After leaving the Air Force in 1956, he roughnecked for Texaco for three years before taking advantage of the GI Bill to go back to SLI and major in electrical engineering. After graduating with his degree he accepted a job with Cathodic Protection Service (CPS) in Lafayette. He worked for CPS for four years, then consulted for a general contractor for two, before opening his own company, Corrosion Control, in 1968, he continues to do this work, mainly on a consultancy basis. Throughout the interview he discusses changes in the oil industry, particularly in who is making the decisions, approaches to work, and relationships between companies and employees. He also describes cathodic protection and how this has evolved over the years. Interviewer: David DiTucci.

interviews

Energy development; Petroleum industry and trade; Shell Oil Company; Smith, Larry

Lafayette, Louisiana

Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections

English

Collection
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
Houston History Archives
Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

Preservation Location: ark:/84475/pm6177fs882