Gene turned 86 a month ago. He was born and raised in the town of Quincy Illinois which is on the Mississippi River. Because Quincy is just twenty miles from Hannibal Missouri, Gene always joked that he knew Mark Twain as a boy. It has always been easy to imagine him as his friend and a companion to Huckleberry Finn. So he had an idyllic childhood on the great River, getting into mischief with his older brother John and looking up to his big Sister Virginia. His Mother was named Mary and his Father John was a mail carrier. Their Grandma Trace also lived with them and helped to raise them.

   Gene grew up during the Depression. He started caddying at the local country club at the tender age of nine, where golf became a life long passion. He was a good athlete, wonderful high jumper, played four sports in High School, and was a backstop to his brother's table tennis prowess, who was the champion of three states. Working and playing hard during his teen years he was holding down a full-time job and playing basketball for the WPA at $5 per game (once against the Harlem Globetrotters). He danced up a storm to the Big Bands that would travel through Quincy on their way to Chicago. But he collapsed one night on the basketball court, with flu attacking his heart, and spent three weeks in a coma and nine months in bed because there was no penicillin back then. His sister was a nursing student at the time, dating a young German Doctor, who saved Gene's life by packing him in ice to get his temperature down. Gene recovered fully, became a chauffeur, commercial hunter and fisherman, and then moved to St. Louis to work for Ralston Purina Company.

   He married Virginia Dorsey in 1942. They had a total of seven children: Steve, Darcy, Michael, Deborah, Tracy, Bill and Jeannie. When WWII broke out his local draft board wouldn't accept him due to his heart problems so he enlisted in the big city of St. Louis where they gladly signed him up. He graduated first in his class at Officer's Candidate School. He spent the War years in Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco as a Battalion Surgeon's Assistant, and in the Phillipines as a Medic. His division (the 24th) was the first to enter Japan after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

   With their experience at Ralston Purina Co., Gene and his brother then started Brighton Alfalfa Meal Company in Colorado, building a monstrous alfalfa dehydrator that dimmed the lights in the nearby town. They sold all their product to Ralston Purina, who then decided to build their own dehydrator and Gene & his brother were out of business. Gene worked for another feed company in Denver and Utah and California. In 1949 he got the franchise for Kitson automatic poultry feeders and he traveled the state installing and servicing the feeders. Because he was well liked and knew 99% of all turkey growers in California he was approached to try to start an Agricultural Marketing Order for Turkey Growers in California. After traveling 60,000 miles around the state gathering signatures, he succeeded and became the first manager of the Board. Under his direction the per capita consumption of turkey almost tripled. In trying to find the best way to cook turkey, hundreds were experimented upon and the final result was that it was impossible. Finally a school lunch lady in Missouri told him to cook it breast side down and this started the ball rolling toward the invention of the pop-up turkey timer which the Board would not finance so he and his partners invested in it. In 1973 they sold their Dun-Rite Company and the patent to the device to the 3M Company for stock.

   In the meantime, Gene was hired by the Cling Peach Advisory Board to handle all European Advertising and Promotion out of Frankfurt Germany. When the Peach crop froze in 1967 he came back to California and was hired by the California Raisin Advisory Board as Advertising and Promotion Manager for the Domestic and Worldwide market. He went around the world seven times. This is where Nan met him, just out of college, working as assistant Home Economist. Nan moved to San Francisco in 1972 and Gene left the Raisin Board in 1973 to run the Dun-Rite Company for 3M.

   In 1976 he and his old friend Roland Killian opened a gourmet food and wine store called Bon Appetit in Fig Garden Village of Fresno. The store was years ahead of its time, with many of the California wines just at their infancy. He and Mr. Killian also bought Gertrude the coffee roaster with the help of Heinz, Gene's old friend and sales manager in Germany. In fact, we are still buying green coffee from Erna Knutsen in San Francisco, who sold green coffee to Gene & Mr. Killian at the store in Fresno. Unfortunately and unbeknownst to him, the 3M stock that Gene used for collateral for the store was 'unregistered' and it was not legal for Dean Witter Co. to loan money against it. Three years after the money was loaned Dean Witter sold the stock out from under him overnight at a huge loss and he was ruined again. At that time Nan was working for Gene in the store and during the bankruptcy we were able to keep Gertrude and all coffee related scales, etc. to start over again. We operated a fresh coffee delivery service to previous Bon Appetit customers from a rickety old barn where we were able to afford the rent. Because it was a former marijuana farm, our brother in law Joe thought we should call the business 'Pot' of Gold so that is what we named it. We supplemented our income by working as the Snack Bar Managers at a Tennis Club in Fresno where we redesigned the snack bar, did catering, and barbeques.

   About 1980, Dolly & Jim Jones who were friends of Gene's son Michael, bought Thetis Island Marina and moved away. They did however return to Fresno for some supplies every once in awhile and would buy 50 pounds of our coffee at a time to bring back to Thetis Island. It sold very well. They then had the idea for us to move Gertrude into their backroom at the Marina (where the post office and store is now) and sell our coffee to the boaters. Gene and I both jumped at the chance to start over again at such a beautiful place. We applied for landed immigrant status and nine months later got approval to come up here. With the help of Gene's kids we put Gertrude and all our earthly belongings into a moving van which Gene drove up with Donald the dog, me following behind in our old station wagon with Heinz the dog and Acey & Miracle Cat. We arrived on Thetis sight unseen on May 19, 1982 with about $1200 in our pocket. Gene was 63 years old and I was 34. We worked very hard all that summer for Dolly & Jim and later that fall we moved Gertrude into our rented home at the corner of Foster Point Road & Harbour Road first from Brian & Daphne Hughes and later from Carol & Bruce Champion. Dolly & Jim got a divorce, moved away and both remarried again. In 1988 & 89 we spent a year & a half caretaking Dayman Island, coming back and forth to the Thetis house to roast the coffee for our new 'mail order' business to the boaters who wanted more coffee in the wintertime. We came up with the idea of free postage on 'standing orders' and the business started to thrive.

   In 1990 we had saved enough to be able to put a down payment on our home at 73 Pilkey Point Road which Gene bought with a handshake from Arthur Gooding. We had it paid for in seven years, did lots of renovations and were very proud of our little business. In between 'roastings', Gene had a wonderful time fishing, playing golf, cribbage, working around the house cooking up delicious meals and taking care of all the animals. This spring & summer Gene built a handsome little log house smoker. He never ceased to amaze me with his phenomenal energy, strength of character, great mind, sparkling wit, generosity, creativity, and charm. There will never be another like him. During his last golf game with Den Kelsey and niece Anna on August 4th when his lung collapsed, Gene hit a 250 yard drive, and finished the game sinking his chip shot on the 18th hole.