Gene Lessard

I was born in Miller (read Gary), Indiana in November, 1943. I attended Catholic school from 1949 to 1961, graduating high school from St. Bede Academy, Peru, Illinois. At the age of 15, my first job was part-time in a Tasty Freeze paying $0.50 per hour plus all you could eat. Tiring quickly of chili dogs, I found a job as a gas jockey for $1.00 per hour – instantly doubling my income. I worked in various service stations and learned the trade of mechanic – now paying $2.50 per hour. On Memorial Day, 1963, I joined the Air Force and became a radio technician serving at the now defunct Kincheloe AFB in northern Michigan. Kincheloe has been turned into a prison. I hunted and fished with every spare moment. I left the Air Force with a chest full of, well actually only one, medal – I received a good conduct medal and am not sure how I got that.

After the Air Force I worked as an electronic technician near Seattle, WA. After a few years of not seeing the sun in a building with no windows, I quit and attended the University of Washington and received a BS in Forestry and an MS in Forest Entomology in 1974. My first job in forestry was in Albuquerque in the Regional Office of the US Forest Service. I married my wife and sweetheart Fran in 1979 and within a week, we moved to Denver. I was promoted to Zone Entomologist in the Regional Office. I spent most of my time working in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In 1988, we moved again to Alaska where I was the Director of Forest Health. I spent most of my career doing, during the week, what most folks dream of doing on weekends. In 1992, we moved to Washington DC where I retired, in 2000, as the Executive Director of an Ecosystem Management implementation team. We moved back full circle to Albuquerque in 2004 with Fran transferring this time. Fran and I have been sweethearts for more than 35 years.

After retiring I attended Northern Virginia CC and received a certificate as a personal trainer. I specialized in helping mature folks – ages 70 to 98 (that would be me now). The men wanted to walk without a cane or walker, and did; the women wanted to be able to put their pants on while standing, and did. The pay, $8.25 per hour, did not hold me in this profession more than a couple of years. I began to use my leisure time catching up on my reading in human evolution. When I complained to Fran that every book I read just gave a snippet of the story, she said: “Don’t complain to me write your own book”. So, I did. I made her a widow for 2 years writing “Grandfather’s Tale: The story of Human Evolution and Dispersal”. I also took up my love of photography after a hiatus of some 20 years. I specialize in landscapes with man-made objects in them. Hot air balloons and old steam trains fit the bill quite nicely.