Laurie was born in Mansfield, Louisiana, the third of four children and the only girl. Mansfield may seem like a small town, but, hey, it was the home of the director of the movie, Paint Your Wagon. If that guy could get Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin to sing and dance about gold dust and beans, there must be something special in Mansfield.
Dancing cowboys aside, Laurie headed to Lafayette, Louisiana to get her degree at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and, after, to get some good food and work in Cajun country. A college friend was working for Gulf Oil and shared with Laurie what title was all about. She thought, “hey, I can do that.” So, she interviewed with a brokerage firm in Lafayette where an old timer shared “hey, I don’t think you can do that. Because you’re a girl”. It was not the first, or the last, time that Laurie had to set someone straight and when she left years later, he had hired numerous women because, while slow, he eventually learned that “hey, she really could do that”. And, she did it well. Because she’s Laurie.
After, she moved to the Shreveport area where she found work at Texas Oil and Gas Company. She also found an inhouse landman who seemed particularly nice, but there was a “no spouses” rule at work. That landman, Jim, seemed like the better bet and she left. After working for law firms specializing in title, she and Jim moved to Houston, planted roots, and started a family. However, title was calling her and she received a phone call asking her to head up a job in Tyler County. That call resulted in 20 years at Ergon Exploration Company, where she handled all aspects of the company’s land work in Tyler.
While working with Ergon, she ended up working closely with the title attorneys, including some folks named Don Sinex, Scott Petry and Susan Stanton. When the Ergon project started to wrap up, Petry & Sinex was thrilled to have someone with Laurie’s skills and work ethic. She is happy to be a part of the team.