Gale French has been interested in genealogy for a very long time; his family has nurtured this interest in him. He has lived in Texas all his life and worked for IBM in the U.S. Space program at NASA's Johnson Space Center for 26 years. He has received the IBM Outstanding Contribution Award, NASA's Apollo Achievement Award, and the NASA First Shuttle Flight Achievement Award for Manned Flight Awareness. He recently received the Pioneers in Space Technical Achievement Award from the United Daughters of the Confederacy.