Gene Harris

Gene spent grades one through six in Sandy Springs, a suburb of Atlanta, GA, and eventually found herself a high school student in Destin, a small town on Florida’s panhandle. Although the family’s many relocations might have tested less resilient personalities, Gene insists, “I liked moving around. I kind of got used to it early.” As a result, she muses, “I’ve never felt real permanent.”

When Gene was once again uprooted in 1967, in the middle of her junior year in Florida, is the one time she remembers being distinctly unhappy about saying goodbye to her local life. During her time in Destin she had watched her father build a sailboat, and enjoyed windsurfing in the Keys whenever she could. Gene recalls working on a charter boat owned by the loquacious conservative author William F. Buckley, editor of the National Review, whom Gene met briefly, and found rather less endearing than his clients.

Gene moved almost as much in her early adult years as she had in childhood. She graduated from the University of South Carolina, majoring in International Studies, and managed to return to both Florida, where she worked selling sailboats, and Atlanta, where she was trained as a paralegal. Although this training would later come in handy, Gene and desk jobs were not made for each other.

One of her first jobs involved working on a charter boat owned by the loquacious conservative author William F. Buckley, whom Gene met briefly, and found rather less endearing than his clients.

Other more aquatic employment included teaching sailing on Cape Cod and working as Waterfront Director at a New Hampshire camp. “It was a meager living,” she confesses – “but then, money’s never been a priority for me.” In the early 1980’s, a windsurfing trip to California led to a lengthier stay; and today, despite any feelings of impermanence, Gene has called Alameda home for over 25 years.

After this, Gene met two men who would significantly influence the next phase of her life. The first such encounter was with a man named George at the Town House in Emeryville, then a “sleazy cowboy bar.” George and Gene would become longtime partners, and live together today. Of that fateful day at the Town House, Gene explains simply, “He had a sailing sweatshirt on, so he was pre-qualified.”

Gene went from part-time work to operating Seabird Sailing, where she met a neighbor she remembers fondly. His name was Gus Breuer, he slept and lived on site, and he had thousands of colorful stories. Gus was born in the year 1900, onto Emeryville farmland; over the years Gus’s art-and-design lifestyle included helping design Walnut Creek’s Heather Farm, an association with sculptor Alexander Calder, and a modeling session for photographer Imogen Cunningham. Gus had tea and cookies ready at the boat house every day at 4 p.m., and once made Gene a present of an East Bay map from 1908.

If it was Gus who piqued Gene’s interest in the rich inner life of the elderly, it was Gene’s own mother who initiated her training in elder law and care. When she began to need help in some areas of her life, she chose to move to California, where Gene and one of her brothers had settled, because “we’re more fun than my brother and sister in Georgia.” When her mother was settled in assisted living – where she lives comfortably today – Gene decided she would pick the place she wanted to work, and begin volunteering there.

After researching the field, Gene chose LAS. Finally putting her legal training to work, Gene volunteered as a guardianship advocate for some six months before being hired permanently in May 2006. She has been a valued member of the LAS team ever since, and her part-time schedule still allows for enthusiastic involvement in local sailing events and competitions, including the upcoming event linked here. Although she maintains the air of one accustomed to prolonged traveling, Gene seems to have found a home in the Bay Area, and at LAS, where we hope she’ll be for a long time.