About the Author

Bill Gonce grew up in Anaheim, California where his parents, Ellsworth and Elizabeth, moved in 1955, to be ‘out in the country’, and bought a house with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom to raise their only son and four sisters. (Try that design today) The folks still live in the same home, and have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. (Try that in today’s world!) Anaheim then was orange groves, strawberry and bean fields, avocado orchards with only 14,000 residents in those days before Disneyland opened and people came to visit, and found out they didn’t have winter in Southern California. Bill bought his first car, a 55 Chevy, from proceeds of running two paper routes on an old Schwinn 2-speed bike. Car cost $100, all new upholstery cost $100, and the first insurance payment for males under age 25 was $100. Gas for it cost 19 cents a gallon, and his first ‘real job’ was at a Robinson’s department store @ $1.65/hr.

At 18, Bill moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, to start a job as a carpenter, during the construction of the Alaska oil pipeline. He’d never seen snow fall before, and frost, maybe twice in his life. It was difficult to understand why these local people lived where it was like being in a deep freeze with temperatures down to 60 degrees below. Crawling around up in attics, insulating at 20 below, and pouring foundations under visqueen tents left unforgettable memories. Working sometimes 60-70 hours a week for the next year and a half, Bill worked on and completed 14 homes there, where he and his boss did almost everything themselves, before moving to Haines, Alaska where he spent a construction season rebuilding a commercial building that had burned.

After a four and a half month trip around the Pacific, visiting Hawaii, American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, he returned to Southern California to complete the 4 yr Carpenter’s Apprenticeship Program, where he worked on large commercial projects, including the new Irvine High School. Upon completion of the apprenticeship, he took his brand new bride, Carolyn, back up to Ketchikan, Alaska, where it rains 162” (as in, 13’) per year, average, where he worked as a Union Carpenter on jobs such as a Coast Guard Loran C Station, Fish hatcheries, water/air pollution controls at Ketchikan Pulp Co, and others. They bought their first old home there, remodeled it themselves, and their first son, Danny, was born.

After 3 years in Ketchikan, they moved to Juneau, and bought 7 acres overlooking Tee Harbor, 20 miles to the north of Juneau, where he worked as a journeyman carpenter on projects such as the Capitol Building Remodel, while they built their first new home and shop, and started in their own business as Tee Harbor Construction in 1979. For 14 years, Tee Harbor Construction built many custom homes, including 6600 and 8500 sq ft homes on the beach overlooking the Inside Passage. Bill and his own crews did most all of the work themselves, including foundations, framing and finish carpentry, plumbing and wiring, as specialty subcontractors were few and far between in those days. During that time, Tee Harbor Construction also worked on several commercial construction projects in the Governor’s Mansion, Capitol Building, Federal Office Bldg, Twin Lakes Fish Pathology Lab, Alaska State Museum and others. While living in Juneau, their two younger sons, Brett and Chad were born. Interests pursued in those days were plying the waters for halibut, five species of salmon, cutthroat and dolly varden, and hunting for deer, moose, Dall sheep, and caribou. Some of these days are related in another of Bill’s books, “Lessons from One Man’s 18 Near Death Experiences”.

Bill and Carolyn moved to Central Oregon in 1991, and have continued building dozens of upper end homes in Bend, Sisters, Redmond, Sunriver, Black Butte, and Post, Oregon. Today, they still love working with clients and the challenge of building the homes of their dreams, and making it fun and exciting in the process. Their three sons grew up wearing nail bags working with their dad, especially during the construction of their own new homes built in the area. Since moving to Central Oregon, Bill has learned to fly fish, is still looking for the elusive steelhead, salmon and trout, has come to love hunting elk in addition to deer and antelope, has become a private pilot since two week before 9/11 in 2001, enjoying flying trips into the backcountry of Oregon and Idaho, in their 1959 Cessna 180 taildragger.

Bill and Carolyn celebrate their 40th anniversary this year, in Central Oregon, while their son, Danny and his wife, Becky have been back in Alaska for several years with the two grandkids, Carson and Aubrey, where Danny has worked as a lineman and safety officer of the power company there. Brett and his wife, Jamie, live in San Francisco where he works for the largest solar installation company in the US. Chad and his wife, Rachel, live in Lake Elsinore, California, where he works for the same solar company.