Gene was born August 13, 1920. He loved electronics and got his ham radio license, W5FZQ at the age of 13. He went to sea at 16, as a radio operator. He was drafted in 1942, and was in the Army Signal Corp in England intercepting German Morse code and he was part of the group which broke the code that helped to win World War II. He worked for the New Orleans Police Department, then came to Lafayette in 1955 and worked for PHI. He was the owner and operator of Broussard's TV Service for 25 years.