Eugene Joseph Alsperger was born on Jan 21, 1930, to Joseph and Marie Alsperger in Chicago, IL. Gene grew up in Chicago with his two brothers, Ken and Ron, and attended high school in Grayslake, IL, where he was well known for the red socks he wore and where he met his future beloved wife, Betty.
After high school, Gene attended college in DeKalb, IL, for two years before entering the Academy in July of 1950. After completing plebe year, Gene learned of a rare good deal available at the Academy. Cadets could get sack lunches from the Mess Hall on Sunday after Chapel and head to the golf course. So Gene and three of his C-1 Company classmates took up golf. They loved rainy Sundays because no one else was on the course. More than 40 years later, Gene, Carl Stark, and Dunc Beaumont, who had not seen each other since graduation in 1954, joined up in Spokane, WA, for one last round of golf. Gene’s first words, with a wide grin on his face, were, "Do you remember that golf game we had at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama during cow year?" But that’s another long story.
After graduation Gene entered the Air Force, and he and Betty married shortly thereafter. They and the children (Susan, Mike, Holly, and Kurt) lived in many places in the United States and England. Gene’s two tours of duty in England gave him a lifelong admiration for all things English. He loved the proper way things were done in England and at times would say to his children, "You kids were raised in England," as he was admonishing them or encouraging them in the way they did things.
Holly remembers a time in England when the whole family had gone into town to do grocery shopping. On the trip back home Holly was chewing gum, and Gene asked where she got the gum. Holly told her Dad, "At the store, it was sitting on the shelf." Gene stopped the car, turned around, and headed back to the grocery store. He took Holly to the manager and made her tell him that she had taken the gum without paying for it. With that done, the family headed back home. Another life lesson taught.
Sometimes when Gene came home late in the evening, just as Betty had put the kids to bed, he would go into the bedrooms and tickle the kids one by one until they were laughing so hard they couldn’t sleep. Gene loved all little children and he could make even the most sober faced one laugh when he made his funny faces.
The kids dreaded having to ask their Dad for help with homework problems. They just wanted quick answers, but Gene would go on for an hour on just one problem. But when they look back, they realize that he wanted them to understand how he arrived at the answer and not just to memorize an answer. He was a good teacher.
During the Vietnam War Gene served as a Radar Navigator aboard the AC-130 Specter Gunship and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery. He distinguished himself by heroism and extraordinary achievement that was above and beyond the call of duty while in flight against an enemy. On a night mission to destroy enemy vehicles over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, half of the AC 130’s tail was shot off. Because of Gene’s navigational skills and heroic efforts, the plane with eight men aboard returned to safety.
Gene retired from the Air Force as a B-52 Bomber navigator. He then moved to Spokane, WA, with Betty and the four children. He worked for a number of years as a real estate agent, but he and Betty also had an idea about their dream house. So Gene went to work getting that house built in the middle of a 200-tree apple orchard in the Spokane Valley. He took his abandoned orchard and tirelessly nurtured the trees back to life, eventually producing more than 6 tons of apples annually. He refused to sell the apples, preferring instead to give them to admiring passersby and the Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane.
Gene had always enjoyed woodworking and built wood frames for the needlework of Betty, Susie, and Holly. He personalized them with fancy italic writing and for Holly’s cross-stitch, ice cream picture Gene inscribed, "From the 1985 Holly Collection for Grandma Frear." Gene also built and repaired bird feeders and bird houses. He loved to watch the birds, especially the hummingbirds.
Gene enjoyed making his own beer, wine, and root beer, as well as enjoying his evening martini with an olive. Even in the hospital he would jokingly ask for an olive with his medications. Growing up he loved the fresh Polish sausage his mother, who was of Polish descent, bought in the Chicago meat market. For years, while living in Spokane, he would order the sausage from Chicago. Other favorite pastimes were golfing, fishing, racquetball, and building and flying model airplanes.
Gene lived an exemplary life and served his country, his family, and his community well. He is dearly missed everyday by his children, grandchildren, other family members, and a host of friends and neighbors, as well as by the many deer and elk that frequent his property.
Gene was preceded in death in 2007 by his wife, Betty, to whom he was married almost 53 years. Well done, Gene. Be Thou at Peace. You have earned your place in the Long Gray Line.
— His Children