Thomas Schultz Jr. was born in Biloxi, Mississippi October 22, 1932. Thomas was a 3rd generation shrimper. After forty-five years of shrimping, he retired then went to work for the Mississippi State University at the coastal research experimental seafood processing plant in Pascagoula for twelve years. His first job was at a bakery where his uncle was the baker. He quit school at the age of fourteen to work on his daddy’s boat. He was involved in a summer research program at Cape Canaveral Channel tagging turtles. Later, he went to Washington D.C. a number of times to testify about the turtles that were being killed. He served in the Navy for four years. After Camille he worked for the Biloxi Police Department for five years. He was one of the original organizers and on Board of Directors of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. The purpose of the Alliance was to try to control the amount of sodium bisulfite that was being used in imported shrimp.

Scope & Content Note:
Thomas’ grandfather came from Denmark and jumped ship in Mobile. His grandfather was a ship’s carpenter. He moved to Biloxi and worked in a factory before becoming a shrimper. Thomas’ father built his boat in approximately 1945. In 1973 Thomas had his own seventy-eight-foot boat built. It was named The Reba Rose after his daughter Reba and wife, Rose. He had two deckhands, one was with him for 30 years. He grew up during the Great Depression. His mother worked in a factory while his grandmother took care of the kids and grandkids. He had two sisters. As a kid, for spending money, he and his friends would go down to the sea wall early in the morning and catch a wheelbarrow full of crabs and sell them for ten cents a dozen. For fun they would sled down huge piles of oyster shells using curled up sheets of tin. Later the oyster shells would be used to build roads. Nobody had a car so everybody either walked, or rode the streetcar. His daddy had purchased a 250-foot by 150-foot lot with a two-bedroom house and had chickens, pigs and goats. He is enjoying his life with his three daughters and a son. His children went to college instead of becoming shrimpers. His grandson wants a boat like the one named after his momma. At times, he and his wife drive around the neighborhoods and reminisce about the different families that lived in the houses.