Gary Lee

Gary was born February, 1941 in Pasadena, CA. He attended Pasadena High School and Pasadena College with the achievement of AA Degree as an electronic technician. His father, Robert E. Lee, owned an auto upholstery shop for 45 years, which is where Gary learned all about cars. To earn extra income, Gary restored more than 50 cars over the years. He would buy cars from the tow yards and then fix them up and sell them. Gary could rebuild a car with a wrench and a screw driver. Many of the officers purchased cars from Gary.

During college Gary signed up for 6 years as a Navy Reserve. After graduation he did two years as ship photographer on a carrier, the USS Yorktown. He left the Navy in 1962 and worked in a professional photo lab for awhile with “small” pay.

In 1962 Gary met his wife, Diane, at Bob’s Big Boy in Pasadena and in May, 1963 they got married, and celebrated their 45th anniversary May, 2009. Gary and Diane have three children (2 boys and 1 girl) and four grandchildren.

Gary tested at several police departments and took the first one offered which was Baldwin Park PD, in 1963. There were no openings for Police Academy until Sept., so they put him with a Sgt. for a week and gave him a badge and a uniform. He then worked patrol for 6 months with no formal training.

Gary applied at LAPD and started the academy around November, 1963. He worked 2 years at Highland Park Division and Hollywood—this included working the Watts riot of ‘65. Soon after, he applied for and was hired at Newport Beach.

While at NBPD, Gary attended Goldenwest College and earned an AA in Police Science. During his years at NBPD, he worked patrol, traffic investigator, motors, (riding a Moto Guzzi motorcycle). He remembers putting a Harley seat on the Guzzi because the regular seat was so uncomfortable. He said he had to push start the thing every morning and one night he got home to find the ignition wires had burned up on the ride home. He spent a couple years in the F unit. The F unit was the start of today’s CSI unit. Gary also used the skills he learned in the Navy, and assisted Doug Dein in the photo lab.

The last few years of Gary’s career he worked court liaison. Every one hated getting the job of filling in at court. Gary made a manual so anyone assigned to fill in could just read the directions and get the job done. It made the ordeal much easier.

Gary could always be counted on to make things interesting. Whether it was racing Al Miller around Fashion Island or getting a crew to repaint the tires on the units or just cracking jokes at the supervisors’ expense or wearing a hair piece, he always kept things hopping.

Upon retirement, Gary and Diane packed up and took their motor home on a 3-month trip to Canada and Alaska which was unforgettable. Gary and Diane met up with Stan and Judy and Ken and Ruth Smith in Anchorage and spent a few days visiting. Diane caught her first ever (and last) trout at Johnson Lake. On the way to Alaska Gary had to do a major overhaul on his motor home when the fan belt and water pump broke and then on the way home he got stuck for 3 days when one of the leaf springs broke; but as long as he had a tool in the tool box he could fix it. Gary and Diane also enjoy going to Hawaii or Mexico and just relaxing in the sun. Diane continued working a few more years as a legal secretary and now she loves taking care of her new grandson. They just love being retired!

Gary says, “We travel and I still play golf; but never got better than when I started.” Everyone that plays with him can attest to that. When you play with Gary it is always about the fun and golf is secondary.

Gary Lee as told to Stan Bressler, August 28, 2009