Leo Joseph Gauthier
Leo Joseph Gauthier was born on
October 4, 1907 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He
is the son of Charles Louis Gauthier and Harriet (LaFond) Gauthier.
Leo Gauthier attended St. Luke
Parochial School and Washington High School, both in Two Rivers. He graduated from high school in 1926. His first employment was with the Mirro Aluminum
Company in Two Rivers where he was an apprentice machinist.
From 1929 to 1934, Mr. Gauthier served in the United States Coast Guard,
stationed in Brooklyn, New York. During this
time, he studied art, an interest of his since a very young age, at the Cooper Union
School of Art and Drake’s School of Marine Architecture. It was during this time in New York that he met
Adelaide Margaret. Joseph. On July 2, 1932,
Leo and Adelaide were married.
On June 14, 1935, Leo Gauthier
started a career in the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a
typist. After his talents as an artist and
illustrator became known, he was transferred to the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC in
1936. There he quickly advanced as a
draftsman, artist and illustrator, and soon was promoted to Chief Illustrator for the FBI. During this same time frame, he continued his
education at Columbus University in Washington, DC where he received a law degree. In November 1939, Leo Gauthier was appointed as a
Special Agent in the FBI, later to rise to the title of Inspector.
During his 30-year career with
the FBI, Leo Gauthier organized an Exhibits Section that provided visual aids (in the form
of two-dimensional drawings and 3-dimensional models) of crime scenes for use during
courtroom trials and investigations. The
staff of the Exhibits Section grew to approximately 50 highly skilled mechanical and
graphic artists who could create visual exhibits that allowed for a thorough understanding
of the crime scene. As the Chief of the
Exhibits Section, Leo Gauthier often served as the FBI’s expert witness on the crime
scene in many high-visibility trials, including the Brink’s Bank robbery, the
Greenlease kidnapping, and the Coplon-Gubechiv espionage case.
One of Leo Gauthier’s many
achievements at the FBI includes the design of the FBI Seal. That seal was registered with the United States
Library of Congress and was first used on FBI stationary in 1941. Today, the FBI Seal is known worldwide.
As his last assignment before
retirement in 1965, Leo Gauthier served as the FBI’s expert crime scene witness on
the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Mr. Gauthier and his Exhibits Section staff
produced 3-dimensional models of both Dealey Plaza where President Kennedy was shot and
the basement of the Dallas Police Department where Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of
the assassination, was shot and killed. Mr.
Gauthier oversaw a complete re-enactment of the Kennedy Assassination in Dallas. The Dealey Plaza model built by the FBI’s
Exhibit Section is on display at the museum that now exists at the assassination site in
Dallas, and includes pictures of Leo Gauthier with the model.
After his retirement from the
FBI in 1965, Leo Gauthier worked for the Vogue Tyre and Rubber Company (headquartered in
Skokie, Illinois) where he served as Vice President responsible for the sales of Vogue
Tyres through Cadillac dealerships along the eastern part of the United States. He also pursued his life-long interest in art, and
produced many paintings using oil, acrylic and watercolor techniques. Many of his pieces are on display in the Rogers
Street Fishing Village and the Convent Museum, in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Leo and Adelaide Gauthier had two children, Diane L. (Gauthier) Maraist and Charles L.
Gauthier. Adelaide Gauthier died on November
1, 1978. At the time of his death on April
30, 1987, Leo Gauthier had 5 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
