Robert "Bob" Cockerham was born in
Louisiana and raised in the Texas oil fields. His father owned and
operated drilling rigs. Bob went into the service in 1940 and met
his future wife, Joyce, when he was passing through Conroe, Texas on
army maneuvers. The two of them were married in 1943, and after Bob
returned from serving overseas during World War II, they moved to
Morgan City. He was working on shrimp boats in 1947 when Kerr-McGee
began drilling what was to become the first successful offshore well
out of sight of land. Bob heard about the well and went to work for
Kerr-McGee. He then worked for Dansinger, a drilling company, and
stayed with them for ten years. He moved on to another drilling
company and remained in drilling for 22 years. He then went into
consulting until his retirement in 1984. Shortly before his
retirement, Bob was given responsibility for managing the first
women's crew to work offshore.
