Thomas Gurney
HANOVER – If you guys are reading this then I am now residing on the ‘bad luck side’ of the grass, as my Uncle Cal would say. I passed away in Hanover, Maine on July 18th, 2020 from complications of Agent Orange exposure. I was born in Rumford in 1946, the son of Dwight Holland Gurney SR and Evelyn Mae Walker. I attended schools in Peru, Dixfield, Carthage, and graduated as a Mexico Highschool Pinto class of 1964. After school I worked at the famous “BFD” until the lean, green, US Marines came calling in January 1966. After Parris Island boot camp, I was agile, hostile, mobile?swift, silent, deadly. . . . rough, tough, and hard to bluff. Armed with these super powers I was shipped off to Vietnam in August 1966 where I joined 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. After two tours, I returned with only haunted remnants of those powers. On October 19th, 1968, I married my beautiful wife Jo, daughter of Frances and Edmond Martin of West Peru. We lived, loved and worked in Sandy Hook, Conn., until I was transferred to Auburn where my company had built a new plant. We lived in Mechanic Falls for the next 35 years. Besides my beautiful extended family, we made many lifelong friends along the way. . . . We love you all. My hobbies included picking blueberries on Streaked Mtn, kayaking, jogging, photography, gardening and landscaping. I would also like to acknowledge my feline friends along the way. . . Skitten, Kizzy, Butters, Suki, Angelique, and Barnabas. I was pre-diseased by my parents, two brothers, Dwight Jr. and Richard Calvin, both of Mexico. I am survived by my wife Jo of Hanover, brother Dwight’s widow, Andrea, of Mexico, sister Donna Foreman and her companion Ed Merrifield, also of Mexico, and brother Gary and his son Iain of Dixfield, a daughter Becki Bellegarde and her three children, son Corey and daughters Chloe and Emily all of Mechanic Falls, two sons, Dan and his wife Shawna and their daughter Oliva of Raymond and son Tom of Auburn. For all the friends and family who loved me, know that I loved you back with the same affection. I especially need to send out a special shout out to my beautiful wife, Jo. Her relentless nursing and stick-to-ativity added months, if not years, to my life! “Mr. Gravedigger, when you dig my grave. . . could you make it shallow. . . so that I can feel the rain? ”
A celebration of life to be determined post COVID.
Thomas Gurney
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