A Little Bit of History.......

Tommy and his dad, Mr. B., formed T.C. Bussell and Son, a partnership, after Tommy graduated from high school in 1952.  They constructed their first drill rig and water truck and began drilling domestic water wells, parking their equipment in an alley beside the garage apartment at 710 West 10th street in the Heights area of northwest Houston where the family lived. The accounting was done on the family’s kitchen table.  Tommy and Mr. B, worked long hours trying to establish their young business, while constructing new equipment and improving what they had. Tommy spent his extra time constructing a rotary drill rig for a drilling company located on Long Island, N.Y.  When completed, he drove the rig to Long Island and stayed six weeks to train the employees to properly operate the rig.  As time progressed, the young company felt very successful one month when they paid all their bills and had $5,000.00 left in the bank.  They were very frugal and paid themselves very little so they could afford to buy property to re-locate the family business.  In 1958, they purchased five acres on N. Houston-Rosslyn Road and relocated into a real business location.  All during this time, the business kept growing and evolved into a real water well drilling firm that drilled domestic, commercial, and industrial systems.  During this time period Tommy was appointed by Texas Governor Preston Smith to serve on the Water Well Drillers Board they granted State Licenses to applicants, if deemed qualified.  He was also very involved in the Lone Star Water Well Association., (L.S.W.W.A.), and served on the board and went through the officers chairs to serve as President of the L.S.W.W.A. Accounting moved from the Bussell kitchen to the new offices in 1958.  Tommy’s wife, Loyce, did the accounting and office management as she had taken accounting in school and was able to work with the CPA to perform all accounting duties the business required.  After working in the firm for thirty eight years, she retired in 1990. Craig’s wife, Mandy, had come to work in the firm in 1983 and was able to fill Loyce’s position with the firm and is still there in that capacity. All during these years, our three sons, Carl, Craig and Troy grew up in the business and followed in their father’s and grandfather’s footsteps.  Our oldest son Carl was our driller for two years when he was taken from us in an industrial accident on the rig at 21 years ………………