Born in Glendora, California, east of Los Angeles, Gary Spetzler moved with his parents to South Lake Tahoe, “until Tahoe became a casino town,” he says, “then to Arcata, California, where I went to middle school, high school and Humboldt State University.”

Spetzler studied computer systems at Humboldt State, but didn’t complete a degree. “I started working for a hospital,” he explains, “and moving up in the health-care tech field.” 

In 1995, he drove to Seattle to investigate a job prospect. “I hated the big-city traffic,” he recalls, “but I stopped in Eugene and saw young families who looked like my tribe.” 

He married his girlfriend Becky and moved to Eugene, where he found a job in IT at what was then known as Sacred Heart Hospital. “Our two kids were born at Sacred Heart,” he notes, “They are in their mid-20s now, happy and healthy.” 

But Spetzler himself lost focus, was diagnosed with ADHD, and after 9/11 lost his job at Sacred Heart. “We lost our house, we lost everything,” he adds. “The economy was in free-fall and neither of us could find work.” He converted a bus to live in, and the family spent five years on the road, from Minnesota to Arizona. “We always ended up in Eugene,” he continues. “We’ve been back for eight years now. I went to work for Marathon Coach to learn to build trailers, but they learned that I knew computer work. I did programming for their coaches.” When he had saved enough money, Spetzler left Marathon, hoping to rent a shop to build trailers. 

“I was shocked by the expense,” he admits. “My wife found this storage unit that would allow me to do woodworking. I found a company online called Cabaret Mechanical Theatre that collects automata, mechanical things that imitate life. The first one I made was a little mouse with cheese. I also found an art challenge: to make a piece of art every week, each piece starting with the next letter of the alphabet. It’s called an Alphabet Superset. I started making automata, putting them on the internet, and people wanted to buy them. By the time I got to E (for empathy), I was producing three or four a week.”

In the photograph, he demonstrates his automaton Empathy, operated by the crank handle to the right. Learn more on his website SpetzlerDesigns.com. 

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