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Today's Featured Biography

 
Lester Barton

After graduation from Colo School of Mines in geophysics and a short time in Texas, I went to Australia to work on the development of newly discovered oilfields off the coast of West Australia. There existed only one large field at the time, Barrow Island, which was discovered almost by accident. But the sanguine expectations were overly optimistic, and early commercial development in the area was disappointingly slow. To fill the void I developed a passion for squash (like racquetball), and surfing, while the lively social scene led to marriage. And importantly I developed a taste for vegemite.

We moved to Singapore where I was privileged to play a fairly significant role in the development of the huge oilfields of East Kalimantan. We had two kids, an amah, a dog and life was pretty good so long as you liked Chinese movies, and food. I passed on the former but enjoyed the food and life which centered on the British Tanglin Club. That allowed me to indulge the passion for squash and I became very serious about sailing in short offshore races, up to a week.

The kids were getting older and schooling more important so we moved back to the USA. I assumed forever. I spent the summers in Houston and at least part of the winters on the North Slope of Alaska. Seemed to have that backwards, 100 degree summers and -60 degree winters, but also did the American dad things like soccer coach and Indian Guides. Coaching soccer was more like dysfunctional psychology when I had to send a policewoman home for indecent exposure, control overenthusiastic violent soccer moms, or try to help a kid whose father had been murdered for gambling debts. During a vacation in Colorado I had a first encounter with my diminishing ability to find my way in the mountains when I took the kids climbing up Grays and Torreys, which I had climbed 30 times while in college. The notorious Kelso ridge looked easier so we went that way and were overtaken by a blizzard on July 4th, so they thought it was a plot and told their mother I had tried to kill them.

I started to commute to southern Mexico, mainly Tabasco. Although I usually lived in Villahermosa, I got to travel a bit, and fell in love with the enchanting area around Oaxaca. Eventually I was persuaded by my company to move to Venezuela. Originally we moved to Maracaibo, and then eventually to Caracas. Both areas had their charms. Maracaibo was close to the Andes and Caracas was culturally a joy. For a second time I attempted to demonstrate my skills as a mountain guide when my daughter came to visit. We took the cable car to the top of Pico Espejo and I assured my wife and daughter that it would be easy to descend by foot from 16000’ even though we had a late start. The first 4000-5000 ft was relatively easy but the last few stations through thick vegetation on very steep slopes were challenging. Eventually I persuaded a caretaker at one of the maintenance towers to let us spend the night inside the cable car station and the news of the lost gringos was in the papers in Merida the next day. Daughter hid behind sunglasses and worried about her hair as there were photographers. Strike two for mountain guiding.

After a few years in South America, we moved to the USA and I made my first attempt at retirement. We did remain in the USA long enough for me to earn my third strike as a mountain guide while my wife and I were hiking in Big Bend. I opted for the cheaper trail map which allowed us to have an up close and personal relationship with the large nocturnal creatures in the national park. The company was able to convince me that my future lay in Malaysia so in 2002 we moved once again to Kuala Lumpur.

Technologically the toys are more fun now than they were 30 years ago, but the excitement of really large discoveries is missing. I travel a lot to India and some of the Southeast Asian countries but will be making a, hopefully successful effort at retirement in a year or two.

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