Daryle Lessard

“He’s the smartest man I know,” shared his son, Jerry Lessard. We call him “Grandpa Google” because he usually knows the answer if you ask him a question. Daryle Lessard was also a man who was never afraid of hard work - our “MacGyver” - because he could fix anything…and always did it with a smile.

If you were looking for Daryle, you could always find him in the garage - his man cave - tinkering on something. From repairing cars to building a hydrofoil or restoring his Ercoupe airplane, his hands were always covered in dirt or grease, like the hard-working man he was.

He never hesitated to lend a helping hand to family, friends, or even a stranger. He lived a significant life, and if you saw him smile with a smirk, his playful spirit arose, and you knew he was fibbing or teasing you.

Daryle was born in 1939 in Minnesota, the sixth of eight children with deep French Canadian and Irish roots. Life eventually led the Lessards to Seattle, WA, where he and his siblings lived in the south Seattle communities of White Center and Burien.

As a young man, he enlisted in the US Air Force, stationed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Oxford, England. Those days, it was an honor to pick up a man in uniform when he hitchhiked across the country to visit his beloved family while on leave.

The USAF gave him his first opportunity to work on planes…it was love at first sight. This led him to eventually work at Boeing, build his Ercoupe, and earn his private pilot’s license. The FAA gave him a standing ovation for being the first person awarded a pilot’s license in Washington State with one legally blind eye. Later, he obtained his A&P license to inspect private planes. At the spry age of 82, he earned his third FAA license as a drone pilot.

His curiosity to learn new things and sense of adventure encouraged him to spend a summer on a fishing boat, where he oversaw the maintenance of the captain’s ship in the frigid waters of Alaska.

Eventually, he settled back in Seattle and, at the age of 25, married Shirley Lessard. He became the father of Michelle Lessard and Jerry Lessard.

Looking to provide for his family, he learned the City of Seattle was preparing for the World’s Fair and needed workers. That’s how he found his way to serve as an inspector, dangling high from the exterior of the Space Needle, inspecting the structure's integrity while handling Cobalt 60 and Iridium x-ray cameras and radioactive isotopes.

He continued his passion for planes and had the privilege of working at Boeing. He contributed to building a famous military bomber and served in the original engineering team for the Boeing 737. His career eventually brought him to Xerox, where he became a repair technician and drove all over the Puget Sound area to repair customers’ copy machines. He quickly climbed the corporate ladder to various positions, including serving as a specialist and training engineers on challenging machines. The company sent him for a short spell to Palo Alto, contributing as a Xerox engineering think tank member. Here, he briefly met Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and later Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who were interested in the Xerox computers and their graphical interfaces, which led to Apple and Microsoft…and the rest is history.

Like clockwork, at 5:00 p.m. on a summer Friday evening, Daryle would hitch the family trailer to his Grand Torino (aka “The Tank”), where family and friends would head out for their weekend camping adventures. His children still hold fond memories of those days.

As a father who deeply loved his children, he was frequently seen on all fours playing bucking horse, building Barbie playhouses, or designing amazing architectural Lego structures. Because “Information is knowledge and knowledge is power,” one would catch him with one of his children by his side, teaching them how to build a fence, weld a copper pipe, replace a car’s flat tire, or even change the vehicle’s oil.

Daryle’s second marriage to Tina Lessard expanded the family to include adult children Debi Fox and Sheri Gervais. He welcomed his two new daughters with open arms.

Although he proudly served as our “MacGyver” fixing things, he wasn’t perfect and sometimes made mistakes. There was one such time while Debi was visiting and enjoying dinner, including his in-laws. Suddenly, the family heard a CRASH and saw a leg dangling from the ceiling! The first question one would ask is, “Why was he in the attic during dinner?” The next question was, “How did he crash through the ceiling?” In any event, a small task evolved into an entire repair job.

Life took Daryle and Tina to Glendale, Arizona, and eventually Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he could fly his plane more often. Here, he opened his own company to refurbish or broker large Xerox machines and train corporations to maintain their equipment. His Xerox expertise led him worldwide, consulting large printing or imaging companies like Kodak.

With an adventurous spirit, he explored the state of New Mexico and later became a “cruiser.” Whether cruising through the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, or the inner channel to Alaska, he always enjoyed sharing these venturesome moments with family and friends. His greatest pleasure was to take all his children and loved ones on an Alaskan cruise, showing them the beautiful country he had experienced on the fishing boat decades before.

Daryle spent some time in Idaho and then Michigan, where his bride was ailing from dementia. After he said goodbye to Tina when she left for heaven, he returned to Albuquerque, sharing his life with local family and making new friends. Daryle’s spirit was to live in his own ‘castle’ again with a garage full of tools, so he bought a small home. After upgrading the house - because he couldn’t help himself - he started accepting his mature limitations. He moved into a senior independent living apartment community, making more new friends in the Albuquerque Valley.

Sadly, Daryle’s quest for life was eventually overpowered by his failing body. He spent his final months in an intimate assisted living facility blocks from his local family. Here, he continued to share his stories with everyone he met. Oh, those stories!!! He even read books on how to write his memoir and - with pen on paper, began writing down his grand life adventures. Sadly, he couldn’t finish them, but the written words he authored will be typed and shared with all who want to read them.

On March 17th, St Patrick’s Day, the Lord said, “Come to me,” and

Daryle graciously left us just an hour and a half after his daughter, Michelle, left his side for sleep. In her last moments with her father, she read to him from her Daily Devotional and Bible, kissed him on the cheek and forehead, and told him how much she loved him.

Daryle left us in peace with no pain. His children made sure he knew how much he was loved and the hero he was to them. Daryle will always be remembered as a hard-working man who took responsibility for his actions, led his life with integrity, and used his God-given gifts to help others.

Thank you, Lord, for sharing Daryle’s life with us. We look forward to seeing him again in Heaven.

Daryle leaves behind 2 children, 2 “bonus” stepchildren, and 1 sibling:

Children: Michelle Lessard, Jerry Lessard (with Laura Lessard), Debi Fox (with Curtis Fox), Sheri Gervais (with John Gervais).

Surviving sibling: Susan Lessard Bushnell

He also leaves behind 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. He continued to mentor these cherubs just like he did as a father to his children.

Daryle was preceded in death by six siblings: Arlene Lessard, Duane Lessard, Dennis Lessard, Lois (Scott) Lessard, Lyle Lessard, and Ron Lessard.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Santa Fe National Cemetery on May 19, 2025, where he will be honored as an Air Force Veteran—details will be provided soon.

In lieu of flowers for our father's passing, we would genuinely appreciate a donation to the New Mexico Veterans Association in memory of Daryle Lessard. The VA took GREAT care of our father during his hospital visits and is also providing him a military funeral with honors. All donations will go directly to the local veterans (not VA operations/staff).

To donate to the NM VA, choose one of the following methods and note the donation is "In memory of Daryle Lessard":

Online donations - can be made using this link: https://www.cdceportal.va.gov/donate_online/ 

Please ensure that the state of "New Mexico" and "Albuquerque-New Mexico VA HCS (501)" are selected for the Facility.

Donations through mail - can be made out to the following address:

Center for Development and Civic Engagement (CDCE)

NM VA Health Care System

1501 San Pedro SE (135)

Albuquerque, NM 87108

We thank you for your generosity.

Daryle Lessard's Children