A Man of The Oil Industry
Between 1930 and 1936, deGravelles received his bachelor’s degree and law degree from LSU. He was also in the LSU Tigers band. He did not practice law but was instead employed in 1937 as a landman (one who scouts potential leases) for the former Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, since Amoco, based in Lake Charles, the seat of Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana.
DeGravelles knew some French and had a French last name but was Episcopalian, not Roman Catholic. The company believed that he could connect well with the local people at Anse la Butte, where he procured the leases. In 1941, de Gravelles moved permanently to Lafayette. He remained with the same company until his official retirement in 1999 at the age of eighty-six. During his time in Lafayette, deGravelles watched the city grow rapidly because of the expansion of the oil industry.
Read more about this topic: Charles De Gravelles
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