We learned a lot about Gene Swinton during his Member Moment presentation at Lincoln South Rotary on February 9.
Gene was not only a Charter Member of Lincoln South Rotary Club, but the first Club President (see charter information here).
 
Growing up in Kansas, Gene shared information about his family and his fathers successful careers and their influence on his life.
 
While his father was working at Boeing building B29s, he was attending school to learn auto mechanics. After running a successful auto mechanics shop he bought a Case dealership as well as a Ford dealership.
 
Gene shared that he enjoyed the opportunity have have the latest and greatest vehicles available to him in high school. We learned that he used to drive "a little fast" and had a tire blow out - but maintained control of the car - going 105 mph . . . so fast that the tire was on fire! He was pretty sure it was too many years ago - so he could share the story without fear of being arrested.
 
He studied Statistics and Human Factors Engineering at Fort Hays Kansas State College. 
 
He partnered with a couple of friends and built apartment complexes (2 to 6 plex primarily) and said that was his favorite job. They always included garages as a feature of their complexes which made them very popular - still today.
 
In his last (and current) career Gene builds websites (click here to take a look).