Roy Long

As the last male on the family's homestead farm, Roy Robert Long (R.R.Long) was therefore not subject to draft after his only living brother Clyde enlisted. The government reasoned 'people needed food' so the last male farm-owner was never drafted. But with no mechanization (only a mule and hand-guided plow), Roy could not physically do all the required work alone, so he took a welding course in Lake Charles then went to work for Bethlehem Steel in Beaumont, Texas, building ships used in WWII. He rose to become head of the entire Bethlehem Steel Shipyard (previously known as Pennsylvania Steel), succeeding my Uncle Ira Savoy).

Roy Long saved the lives of many young men by teaching them to weld (which exempted them from the draft/war in order to build the war ships). After the war, Roy went on to build, and float sections down the intercoastal canal, the first off-shore drilling rig ever used in the Gulf of Mexico. His feat was written up in Bethlehem Steel company magazine.

He received six weeks of vacation each year and used it all for hunting and fishing (maintaining expensive pure-bred hounds.)

At age 65 he retired to hunt and fish full time, but died from a heart attack at age 66. ---