Mr. Lester L. Bulson, Sr., one of Johnson Engineering’s original stockholders and surveyors, passed away April 30, 2013 at the age of 87. Les’ infectious laughter will forever linger in the halls of Johnson Engineering, as will his survey seal found on thousands of plats in our archives.
Les was one of the few who had the pleasure of working directly with our company founder Carl Johnson. Without Les, Johnson Engineering would not be what it is today. Back in the late 1960’s, when the company was in transition from Carl Johnson to Archie Grant, Les was the only registered professional surveyor working for the company at that time, which kept us moving forward.
Les moved to Fort Myers from New York, and his friends remember that he would often make fun of the surveying methods used on these flatlands, since he was use to surveying up and down mountainous terrains. Known best for his practical jokes, which today would probably have him sitting in the HR office, Les was always up for a good laugh.
He was an avid fisherman, moving around the state just to get closer to his favorite fishing spots. During his time here, he gathered more topographic land knowledge of the barrier islands along the entire Southwest Florida coast than nearly anyone, yet ironically probably couldn’t find it on foot without his maps in hand. Les was also a pilot and would fly aerial reconnaissance for the company in the 1970’s and 80’s. He captured rare images of flooding that would later help our team develop water management master plans.
We owe Les a great deal of respect for getting Johnson Engineering to where we are today.
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