Mr. D’Auvergne was born in Santiago, Chile, one of six children of French descent. He has been attracted to engineering since he was a child, teaching himself how to build rockets. (In the process he blew a hole into the town soccer field at eight years old.) The local priest turned his energies toward applications in physics.

After graduating high school, Mr. D’Auvergne became an airman in junior college and learned aviation fundamentals. At the age of 17 he had earned his pilot’s license. In 1957, at the age of 20, he received his rating and became Third Crewman for a passenger and cargo airline (Ladeco Chile). At the age of 21, as political unrest in South America increased, he emigrated to Argentina and later to Uruguay, where he took courses in electronics, optics, and biology. Later he obtained certification as an electronic technician.

Mr. D’Auvergne emigrated to the United States in 1960, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1967. He had to support himself in the U.S. finding jobs as a farm worker and construction laborer. The U.S. military drafted him in 1962, when his electronics and aviation background made him eligible for the U.S. Air Force Flying Sergeant Program. Part of this program required Mr. D’Auvergne to further his English education. As a result he enrolled in the University of California Cooperative Extension. From 1964-1968 Mr. D’Auvergne pursued studies in industrial and electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has enjoyed privileges as a life member of the UC Alumni Association ever since.

Through most of the 1960s Mr. D’Auvergne held various jobs in the aviation industry as a part of a flying technical crew. His technical knowledge grew while employed with the defense-oriented company International Aircraft Services at its division in Oakland, California. That was followed by time with Beechcraft, one of the country’s largest small aircraft manufacturers, at its Oakland division. There Mr. D’Auvergne took advantage of an opportunity to join Standard Oil, where he worked for four months flying and servicing the slope of Alaska.