LARGER THAN LIFE
No history of Premier would be complete
without a mention of a few ‘characters’ who have
been part of the company over the years.
Roger
Eason
One such ‘character’ was flamboyant American football
star, Roger Eason. When Homco and P&O Shipping decided
to join forces in the drilling rental business, it was Roger
who
was chosen by Homco to regularly cross the Atlantic to establish
the business.
He started his oilfield career as a roughneck before commencing
his studies at the University of Oklahoma. After service during
the war he played professional football with the Cleveland Rams
and the Green Bay Packers, and in 1949 he played the part of
a professional footballer in the film Easy Living alongside Victor
Mature and Lucille Ball.
Roger had a distinguished 32-year career with Associated Oilfield
Rentals where he held numerous worldwide positions and was an
advisor with Noble Drilling for many years until his death in
1998.
The company’s longest serving employee, Gordon Hay recalls
the visits of Roger to Aberdeen: “I always had to drive
him to Esslemont & McIntosh department store and wait
outside while he went to buy a new trilby.”
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Bob Smith
Another ‘character’ from the same time, Bob Smith,
was hired by Roger Eason as a contract worker until he requested
a full time job in early 1974.
Bob retired from the company 25 years later and pledged never
to work for another company in the oil industry because it
could never be as good as Premier.
“I was the first employee and you didn’t have titles in
those days. You just had to do everything and a’thing,” remembers
Bob.
Of his reputation as a hard, but very fair, taskmaster he
said: "I
liked a good day’s work for a good day’s pay. No
one ever left. I think there was only one person left in the
25 years I was there. It was a very happy place to work, we
used to have some right laughs but still got the job done.”
Following his retirement from Premier, Bob decided he wanted
a complete change and is now a driver for the Blood Transfusion
Service. “It had to be a
complete change,” he said. “Premier was the best and once you
have worked for the best it could only be downhill.”
Howard Stapleton
‘Howie’, as he was known to his employees, was Managing Director
from 1979 to 1997. He is credited with the introduction of new casing handling
equipment
to the rental fleet and also the start up of the pipe inspection side of the
business.
Renowned for his work attire of cowboy boots, a Ben Sherman button down
shirt (bought from a store on Carnaby Street in London) and a cardigan,
Howard
knew what everyone in the company did and got involved in it all – from the
tools to the accounts.
“He was a good boss, he always had time for us and listened to what we
had to say,” commented Bill Mutch.
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Eddie Zanre
“Eddie was small in stature but a huge character,” recalls Jackie
Wallace.
Eddie started with the company in 1981 as a driver, moved onto a purchasing
role and latterly worked part time as a handyman. He retired in January
2003, following
his 75th birthday, but sadly passed away later that year.
Kathleen Stewart remembers the days when he drove around Aberdeen each
morning to collect her and the other office girls in a Sea Oil Homco
van, “He
was only supposed to wait for five minutes but one of the girls was always
running
late and many a morning he would be knocking on her front door to get
her out of bed. He would do anything to help us out.”
“Eddie
had an old fashioned work ethic; he liked to be busy and enjoyed a laugh
with the boys,“ commented Gordon Hay.
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Morley J. Dupré
A more recent ‘character’ was Morley Dupré, who sadly passed
away in April 2006.
A year after the acquisition by Superior, Morley took over at the helm
as Managing Director having previously worked with Premier’s sister company Workstrings
LLC.
Prior to this he had a distinguished career at Chevron and enjoyed
recounting tales from his overseas postings, which included Kazakhstan,
Indonesia
and Papua New Guinea. His legacy lives on not only with the Premier
golf shield
dedicated
to his memory, but also at Chevron’s Tengiz facility, where he
introduced softball and established the ‘Morley Dupré Memorial
Softball Field’ which
is still in use today. His standard greetings of “yo bro” and “hey
missy” could
be heard throughout the building. |
