Pioneer Road Builder Retires

NOT many men retiring after 37 years of active service are privileged to see the results of their labors as dramatically and tangibly as Lester H. Gibson '04, former District Engineer, Division of Highways, for the State of California.

Achievements such as the Santa Barbara Freeway, the spectacular coast highway from San Simeon to Carmel, and the many miles of heavy duty military roads are among the major projects which materialized under his guidance and direction. A pioneer highway engineer in the era marking the immense changes that came with the automobile, and its progress from dirt roads to the modern four-lane thoroughfares, Lester Gibson, as district engineer at San Luis Obispo, was responsible for the development of over 1000 miles of state highways: for their location, design, rightof-way acquisition, construction, and maintenance.

With four major army posts, numerous air fields, and many coast installations located in his district during World War II, he directed the location, design, and construction of more than nine million dollars of federally financed access roads to these military installations.

A native of Clinton, Mass., Mr. Gibson began his engineering career with two and a half years with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in connection with the water supply of Boston, which involved aqueduct construction and relocation of roads affected by the large Wachusett Reservoir project. Long months of work in the water tunnels proved detrimental to his health, and he left New England for California. He worked first for the City of Pasadena, leaving the position of Deputy City Engineer in 1912 to become Road Engineer for the State of California.

Mr. Gibson's first year of state service placed him in charge of the maintenance and construction for the first system of state roads to be taken over from counties by legislative action between 1897 and 1910—about 500 miles—mostly following the old routes of the emigrant trails. In May 1913 he was made Second Assistant Highway Engineer; his duties were essentially those of a chief construction engineer representing Sacramento Headquarters throughout the state. In December 1918 he began his 31-year term as District Engineer, with headquarters at San Luis Obispo.

Having had enough of large plans during his years of public service, Mr. Gibson has made three modest ones for his retirement: to garden, play golf, and fish.