More from the Author

Soon after my retirement from Nicholls State University, a very persuasive man named Jacob Anthony Giardina got me interested in writing a book about a company named CAMECO, a company that unfortunately was fast disappearing from the collective memory of the inhabitants of the towns and villages in my special area of the world.

Jake promised me an adventure in learning, and learning just happens to be one of the main core goals of my life. But what attracted me most about the project was that he said I’d get to have conversations with some interesting people, many up in age. In fact some of the people would no longer be with us by the time I finished my research. Those people now live again in the narrative of this book.

I had no idea when I started writing the book that my research and writing project would lead me back in history to the 1920s and to a company known as Thomson Machinery. From there, the adventure took me to the early 1960s, to an important decision by some of the employees of Thomson to form their own company. And this is where the story of CAMECO appears to begin.

I just used the word “appears” because I had many surprises along the way. I also had many wrong-headed conclusions that Jake Giardina and others had to correct. But my successes and failures are all part of the adventure.

Because hundreds of employees worked for Thomson and CAMECO through the years, it was impossible for me to interview everyone. Indeed I did get to quite a few, but mainly I had to rely on getting the facts by staying in close contact with a group I called my “Go-To Panel”—Francis Richard, Jake Giardina, Steve Willett, Ken Rodrigue, Edgardo Diaz, Lloyd Cavalier, Ray Riche, and Alex Driest.

I hope that this story finds an audience beyond my special area of the world, a story relived in the words of my new friends at CAMECO.