Level I Thermography Course

Gary has been and NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) Level III since 1990 and taught and still teaches primarily Infrared Thermography, but also Radiography, Ultrasonic, Magnetic Particle Inspection, Liquid Penetrant Inspection, Vibration Analysis, Acoustic Emission, and various Methods of Leak Testing.

Gary was born in Pasadena TX and moved to Beaumont TX when he was two. His father Gene went to work at Goodyear in Beaumont TX for 38 years and retired there in 1999. Gary’s mother Jeanie died in 2008 from type C hepatitis which she contracted during a tubular pregnancy when Gary was 9 years old.

As a child Gary sold lemonade (Not very successfully), Christmas Cards, mowed yards, and helped his father cutting and trimming trees after he would get off work. He enjoyed swimming, fishing, hunting, and playing ball with the neighborhood kids. Gary attended Sallie Curtis Elementary School, Marshall Junior High, and Forest Park High School. Gary says “I was a handful for his parents as a child and especially as a teenager and a young man always living on the edge”.

After High School Gary attended Lamar University and left Lamar and joined the U.S. Navy. Gary is a U.S. Navy Veteran and was a Hull Technician and Diver while in the Navy in 1978. He is also now an Honorably Discharged Veteran. He attended Boot Camp in Orlando FL, A Schools at Treasure Island (Only Exit off Oakland Bay Bridge San Francisco CA) and in San Diego CA. After leaving the Navy Gary worked at General Dynamics for a short time and then Campbell’s Shipyard as a welder and diver. Gary attended College of Engineering (Now California Polytechnic) where he studied Dive Physics, Dive Medicine and Physiology, Mixed Gas, and Saturation Diving. Gary has been 640 feet down in the Gulf of Mexico. Gary performed and help set up some of the first underwater NDT (Non Destructive Testing) testing doing Underwater Ultrasonic testing and testing the Blackburn Underwater UV and Electromagnetic for doing Underwater Magnetic particle Inspection and Oil Leak detection. Gary attended Don Boscoe Technical Institute where he studied Non –Destructive testing methods such as radiography, Ultrasonic, Magnetic Particle and Liquid penetrant Inspection.

Gary was at Mobil Oil from 1989-1994 and was Construction Inspection Engineer, Inspection Manager, and Mobil Oil Senior NDT Level III while here. I left there and was Mechanical Integrity Manager at Ameripol Synpol Corporation from 1994-1995 and left there to work with Agema Infrared Systems. Gary is also an Authorized Inspector for the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors and API 510, API 570, and API 653 Pressure Vessel Inspector.

Flir and Agema merged in 1998 in a 46% stock swap and we purchased Inframetrics in 1999. The merged company was called Flir and left Flir in 2000 to help build Mikron which was purchased in 2007. In 2005 ICI began writing software, calibrating infrared cameras and their own infrared cameras. Gary has attended Lamar, UCSD, College of Oceaneering, Don Boscoe Technical Institute, and Williamsburg College AC and refrigeration courses as well as numerous other Technical Schools and courses over his lifetime.

Gary is a Private Pilot and still enjoys flying, swimming, fishing, and scuba diving when he gets the opportunity. He has been diving in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, South Pacific, North Sea, Red Sea and other oceans around the world. He has walked on the Great Wall of China, Ancient Ruins of Petra, Rome, Greece and climbed the Great Pyramid in Egypt (when it was still legal).

Gary is married to Jill Blashack Strahan and splits time between Beaumont Texas and Alexandria MN.

Gary has four boys Ben, Joe, David, and Zach and one daughter Jenny.