Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

M. WEEKS
WELDING, LAB
TESTING &
SCHOOL, INC.
When Morris Weeks began his own welding
test lab business and welding school on
November 15, 1986, his timing was great for
obtaining equipment at a bargain price, but
poor for getting work in his field.
“We qualify welders for petrochemical
and marine industries,” he said. “We write
procedures for the proper way to weld and train
welders in all processes, including shielded
metal arc, gas tungsten arc, and flux cored arc.”
Things were so tight in the early days of
his company that one Tuesday morning he
told his secretary, Theresa Austin, that if the
situation did not change by Friday, he was going
to shut down.
Austin said she would pray the rosary that
night. On Wednesday morning a Houston man
called and asked if Weeks could test about two
thousand welders. After they sent nine hundred
tests a month for two months, he called and told
them he could not continue because his
equipment was breaking down and had to keep up
with material flow. They replied that was fine, for
he had just finished testing the last of their group.
This early boost from the American Petro
Fina expansion allowed Weeks to get out of debt
and continue building his business, which is
located at 4405 North Highway 347 in
Nederland. His future plans are to build a
separate training facility across the street, with
testing to remain in the present location.
Along with his two daughters, Wendy
Nobles and Angela Atteberry, who helped
him get the business started, he lists Austin
and D. P. Cordell as key components to its
success. When Austin was hired as his
secretary, she planned to stay only a couple of
years while she finished college so she
could teach school. Eleven years later she
completed her education, remaining with
Weeks. Weeks calls himself the “Grandboss” of
Austin’s children.
Weeks is active in the community as a
Shrine clown, a Confederate soldier in Civil
War re-enactments, a Mason, and a Shriner.
Weeks took students to Veterans’ Memorial
Park for four years to build flagpoles, flag
stands, work on the Tower of Honor frame,
sandblast and paint the cannon. In his
spare time he is a beekeeper, and has taught
welding at Lamar Institute of Technology for
twelve years. He is also on the advisory
committee of Angelina Junior College in Lufkin,
and the Lamar Institute of Technology in
Beaumont, and is involved in numerous area
high school welding programs.
88 ✦ WATER, RAILS & OIL