The Noble Link published its premier edition in 1978. and in 2008 the 30th Anniversary edition was published. Inside of it is a list of employees who had been with Noble for 30-plus years.. For those of us who had been with other companies that had been purchased by Noble, we were very fortunate is having our years of service transferred with us to Noble Drilling. This publication also has a number of interviews with some of the long term employees of which I was one.
On the inside page of the magazine there was a short article titled 1978 ..........a look back. This short articled listed events. news highlights and a few other items current at the time of publication, these are the three that stood out to me:
1) Gold reached an all-time high of $200.00 per ounce
2) The median household income in the U.S. (in current dollars) was about $15,064
3) A first class stamp would set you back $ .13
Aren't these years of safety and years of service impressive!! I think that Noble must be in with the top group of Drilling Contractors that retained their employees for most of or all of their careers and along with that, such a good safety record on many of the rigs...
There were pictures of some of us that were included in the list of years of service
I think that one of the reasons that the transition to a new company was a bit easier was because we were able to take our years of service with us, so our time didn't seem wasted and we didn't have that feel of totally starting over.. It is very difficult to no longer be working for the company that you had planned on spending the rest of your working years with, I remember the feeling of almost betrayal by Bawden Drilling because I was so dedicated to the company as were the rest of the employees, I had planned to work every minute of my working days with them.
Breaking down my years of service when I retired, I had been 11 years with Peter Bawden Drilling and 22 years with Noble Drilling. and though it was Bawden that got me started, .............it was Noble that took me to the finish line!.
I'm sure that a number of us on this list have since retired.
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