Moye Boudreaux was born in 1939 in Palestine, Texas and first arrived in Louisiana as a young girl when her father took a job in a newly developed oilfield operated by Tidewater Oil Company in Venice, Louisiana. Moye grew up in Venice, moved with her family to Houma for a few years as a young teenager, and then returned to Venice to finish high school. Moye began working in the oil and gas industry right out of school and worked for Exxon until her retirement in 1994. Among her other activities, Moye was president of the Desk and Derrick Club, a women’s club organized in New Orleans in 1949 to help educate women employees about the oil and gas industry.