Eugene James Fourney II

Eugene James (Gene) Fourney II, 93, of Highlands Ranch, died Monday September 4, 2017 at home following an illness. Born in Blue Jay, WV on February 17, 1924, he was the son of Eugene (Bill) Fourney and Ned Fourney. Survivors include his wife, Saranne Fourney; children, Eugene (Trip/Gene) J. Fourney III of Denver, CO, John Fourney of Council Bluffs, IA, Bob Fourney of Shawnee, KS, Maryanne Foster of Cincinnati, OH and Joe Fourney of Merkel, TX; sisters, Nuala Roberts of Columbia, MD and Mary Grace Houchens of Cincinnati, OH and brothers, Michael Fourney of Mailbu Beach, CA, Joseph Fourney of Beckley, WV and William (Billy) Fourney of Laurel, MD; 17 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. Gene Fourney worked from 1963 until just a few months ago as an Aeronautical Engineer for NASA and various contractors on unmanned space missions including Voyager, Cassini, Mars Rover, Viking, TDRS, Pluto, Maven along with numerous military, GPS and communication satellites. Prior to that, he worked for North American Aviation as an engineer. Gene enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in November 1942 and served as a fighter pilot in guarding the Panama Canal Zone in WW2. He was assigned to the 315th Squadron based on the outskirts of Luneville, France in January 1945 toward the later stages of WW2. He flew P-47's in missions over Germany furnishing close support for the Army's ground troops along with straffing missions in destroying Germany's transportation routes and at Stuttgart Air Base. He made it through 125 missions in the P-47 with his last mission ending at Midnight on VE Day. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Mark Catholic Church, 9905 Foothills Canyon Blvd. Highlands Ranch, CO on Friday September 8th at 11:00am with a Rosary recitation at 10:30 am, reception following Mass. Visitation is scheduled for Thursday, September 7th from 6:00pm-8:00pm at Horan and McConaty Funeral Home, 5303 E. County Line Rd. Centennial, CO. Internment is Monday, September 11th at 10:15am at Fort Logan National Cemetery, 4400 W. Kenyon Ave. Denver, CO.