- Date Of Birth: May 6, 1921
- Date Of Death: January 4, 2015
- State: Illinois
Frederick Eugene (Gene) Nevin, 93, passed quietly away into the arms of the Lord on the morning of January, 4, 2015 at Heritage Health. He was born on May 6, 1921 in Ottumwa, Iowa, to James Raymond and Earsel Edgington Nevin. He married Hazel Pearl Eakins in Wichita, Kansas, on November 28, 1946 and they celebrated 52 years of marriage before her death.
He is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth “Betty” (husband, Jeffrey) Niemann of this city, two granddaughters; Elizabeth “Beth” Rigor of the Dallas, Texas area, and Sarah (husband, D. Luke) Bingaman, and three great grandchildren; Samantha Pearl, Molly Abigail, and Michael Henry Bingaman all of Houston, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his twin brothers James Raymond Nevin II of Mobile, Alabama, and John “Jack” William Nevin of Downey, California, and his sister, Patricia Elnora Miller of Elgin, Illinois.
Gene received a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1944 from his father’s alma mater, Missouri School of Mines (University of Missouri at Rolla and now Missouri University of Science and Technology), enlisted in the Army serving in the China Burma India Theater during WWII before returning to the Missouri School of Mines to receive a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1949.
Upon graduation, he taught at the Missouri School of Mines before gaining employment at Sinclair Oil (later Atlantic Richfield) at its Wood River Refinery before being transferred to the East Chicago Refinery in 1959 where he worked until he retired and moved to Jacksonville from Gary, Indiana.
Gene was an active member in Trinity Episcopal Church, a member of the Lions Club, the Academy of Model Aeronautics, past member of the Iowa Soaring Society, past member and secretary of the Sky Hawks (Northern Indiana Model Aeroplane Association) model airplane club in Northwest Indiana, and a charter member of the Jacksonville Propkickers model airplane club serving as President and Secretary for many years. Gene’s enjoyment was rebuilding his model airplanes after a crash landing more than actually flying them. He even initiated the help of his granddaughters when he could not seem to crash his big green model airplane. The girls got the job done.
