Elsewhere someone asked me for a brief bio, so I thought that I might as well post it here as well.

Les was born in Teaneck, New Jersey in 1942, a “premie” weighing in at 3 lbs, 8 oz. His early years were spent in McAffie, New Jersey. His first claim to national fame was a picture of him patting a turkey around Thanksgiving (taken by having  him pick up car keys from the turkey’s neck)

He was raised in the Borough of Bogota, N.J, a small town not too far from New York City. Bogota was primarily Irish Catholic, Italian Catholic, and Germanic Lutherans, so sides were easily drawn for snowball fights. Les attended St. Joseph’s elementary school staffed by a religious order of nuns in which he had four aunts, so he couldn’t get away with anything.

He attended BergenCatholicHigh School run by the Irish Christian Brothers and managed to avoid too many beating. On graduation he enlisted in the Army.

After three years he transferred to the Air Force when all the girls told him he looked much better in blue.

He was trained and worked in medical laboratory field for the most part of his military career.

Since you can take the kid out of the lab, but you can’t take the lab out of the kid, upon retirement from the military, Les went to work for the Veteran’s Administration/Oregon Health & Sciences University as a research assistant in bone and mineral research.

He married Kathleen on March 19, 1977 at Our Lady of the Lake, Lake Oswego, Oregon. They have three children: Joseph Michael, Paul Andre, and Mary Elizabeth.

His hobbies include history enjoyed by those who don’t favor walking around rainy or very hot golf courses or sitting around waiting for a fish to bite, which, when caught, has to be cleaned.