FORTNEY, Ervin C. 1923-2007

Ervin Fortney, 84, of Gresham, died at Farmington
Square memory care unit on June 4, 2007.
Ervin was born March 29, 1923 to Zula and Russell
Fortney in Shady Grove, Pa. He attended local schools
in the Greencastle, Pa., area and enlisted in the US
Army in June 1941.
He took his basic training in Norfolk, Va.; and from
there he was assigned to Washington, D.C. as an MP;
and then on to Syracuse, NY.; Detroit, Mich., and then
to Moses Lake, Wash. When at Moses Lake, he was
assigned to the 63rd Airdrome Squadron, Army Air
Corps. From Moses Lake he was sent to the South
Pacific where he served on Hawaii, Tarawa, Kwajalein,
and completed his service on Guam. He was discharged
with the rank of Sergeant in 1945 and came to Walla
Walla. He and Esther Schmidt, whom he met at Moses
Lake, were married Dec. 2, 1945 at Christ Lutheran
Church.
While in Walla Walla, he worked for Empire Furniture
and was employed by various local contractors and as a
sales and deliveryman. He worked at Bird's Eye Frozen
Foods first as a sanitation foreman and later as the
froster foreman. He owned and operated E and E Sales,
a condiment supply company. He then worked for
Consolidated Freightways as a local delivery and long
haul truck driver. In 1966 he went to work for Federal
Electric Company at Big Pasco. In 1969, when the
Federal Electric Plant closed, he and his family moved
to Portland where he went to work for Freightliner
Corporation. He began at Freightliner as a journey
machinist in the parts plant and retired April 30,
1987.
After retirement, he and his wife Esther moved to Cape
George near Port Townsend, Wash., to spend their
retirement years. While retired, the couple traveled
extensively. They traveled to Germany, Pennsylvania,
California and the southwest. He was elected to the
Board of Directors of the Cape George Colony and was
instrumental in rebuilding the Cape George road
system. He was very handy with his hands and enjoyed
working on mechanical things. He enjoyed following the
Seahawks, Mariners and Portland Trailblazers.
Due to declining memory issues, he and his wife
returned to Gresham on October 31, 2004.
He was a Second Lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, a
member of the Eagles in Walla Walla, the VFW and the
American Legion.
He is survived by his wife at home; children, Maury
and Debbie Fortney of Walla Walla, Wash., Dennis and
Sherry Fortney of Oxnard, Calif., and Pattie Lincoln
of Troutdale. He has nine grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren. He was known as "Uncle Bud" to
his nieces and nephews in Pennsylvania.
He was preceded in death by his parents and older
brother, Earl.
A Celebration of Life will be held June 30, 2007 at
Fairlawn Retirement Center in Gresham.

Published in The Oregonian on 6/17/2007.


What the world says about walla and further information concerning fortney
HTML copied by Go FTP FREE Software