Vietnam vet and Heights tech earned trust of customers
LANCE BIERRE
For two decades, Lance Bierre owned and operated Heights Appliance Service, employing the technical know-how that he first learned to repair Air Force planes to patch up Houstonians’ broken machines.
He took pride in his work and carried it out diligently, according to his wife, Charlotte Bierre. That earned him the trust of some notable residents, such as Eleanor Tinsley, the late city council member.
“The people that he worked for knew that they could depend on him to be honest,” Charlotte said. “He didn’t just go in there and slap something on the appliance. He would sit down and figure out what was wrong, and then go get the right part. A lot of times the part was on his truck, because he kept a well-stocked truck.”
Bierre, 74, a veteran of the Vietnam War, died March 27 with COVID-19. He was among the first Houston residents to die with the new coronavirus.
He was an intelligent man, occasionally short on patience but generous in his purchase of surprise flowers or “pretty little trinkets,” Charlotte said. His last name was French for “beer,” but he preferred whiskey.
Charlotte said he had been sick for a few weeks before his death, which came two days after their 42nd anniversary. They had four children.
A Syracuse, N.Y., native, Bierre served as an aircraft technician for the Air Force in Vietnam. While he didn’t see combat, the bombs exploding around the base were enough to inspire nightmares for years, she said. He never liked war movies or talked much about his service.
A few years after returning from the war, Bierre visited Houston in 1977. While here, he heard a speech from an elder in the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He developed a private Bible study with the man, which kept him in Houston. The man was Charlotte’s father.
And though he wouldn’t stay with the church, he married Charlotte in 1978 and stayed in Houston for most of the rest of his life.
He spent the last two decades working for
AT&T and only recently considered retirement. He was a man of work with few hobbies, though he did apply his technical skill to fixing up a ’59
Ford Skyliner. “He didn’t want to quit,” Charlotte said.
The couple recently took weekend trips to Lake Raven near Huntsville, where Bierre was trying to learn to kayak. They would also rent a screened-in cabana with a few outlets for their phones. “He was the love of my life and I’m going to miss him,” she said.