EUGENE CASIMIR TORREY

Gene was born in Detroit, Mich. March 4, 1922. He passed away suddenly on Oct. 29, 2009.

He enlisted in the U. S. Navy in 1942, serving three years as a radarman aboard the USS Bullard, a Fletcher class destroyer. He married Casmira Buszek on June 3, 1944. He graduated from the school of pharmacy at the Detroit Institute of Technology, later Wayne State University.

He and his wife owned and operated the Huntington Woods Pharmacy and later the Oak Park Pharmacy in Oak Park, Mich. The last 15 years of his pharmacy career were spent as a hospital pharmacist at the Veterans Administration hospital in Allen Park, Mich. He retired and moved to Tucson in 1982, and then to Green Valley.

In his younger years, he was an active outdoorsman, enjoying hunting and fishing. He was an accomplished amateur filmmaker, winning first prize Film of the Year award at the Detroit Cine Club in 1952.

He was an avid wood craftsman, regularly visiting the Green Valley Woodworkers club. He created some beautiful pieces, a number of clocks, bowls, a Murphy bed, and even a violin. He also enjoyed flying radio controlled airplanes. He was a lover of good classical music.

His life was characterized by persistence, curiosity, and a lively sense of humor. “Plan your work and work your plan” was his motto.

His dearly beloved wife Kay preceded him in death on June 20, 1998. He is survived by his sisters, Gertrude Fisher of Southfield, Mich. and Barbara Torzewski of Grosse Pointe, Mich.; children Thomas Michael Torrey of Slidell, La., Susan Mary Aliff of Newport News, Va., Diane Elaine Torrey of Essexville, Mich., Robert William Torrey of Detroit, Carol Marie Witt of Charlotte, N.C. and James Joseph Torrey of Tucson. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, Nov 4, at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church, 505 N. La Canada Drive, Green Valley.