Eugene "Gene" Mckenzie, Jr.

Eugene “Gene” McKenzie Jr, 92, passed away on September 5th, in Springboro, Ohio.

Gene was born on March 15, 1932, in Wilmington, Ohio to Eugene “Mack” McKenzie Sr and Leila (nee Street) McKenzie. He spent his childhood on the family farm in Lumberton, Ohio, attending school locally before transferring to and graduating from Mt. Vernon Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Gene attended college at Southern Missionary College in Collegedale, Tennessee, not far from Chattanooga.

In August 1952 he entered the U.S. Army, serving as company clerk of a M.A.S.H unit during the Korean War. After his discharge in 1954 Gene began work in the foundry at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, where he continued for 17 years before a sports injury brought him to early medical retirement. Before retiring from Wright-Patterson he had started his own company striping parking lots. He would go on to build his company, Tri-State Striping, into the largest in the Mideast. After purchasing the family farm from his father in Lumberton, Ohio, he continued there until his retirement. However, even in "retirement" he continued to work into his '80s for Hauser Asphalt Company as an estimator.

Gene's first marriage was to Ruth (nee Poole) Armstrong after he returned from Korea. They had two children, Jan Alan McKenzie and Darla Jean (Pauley) Hensley.

In 1964 he would meet Edith "Edy" (nee Dalton), his second wife at the skating rink in Lebanon, Ohio, when her friend Faye nudged her into Gene for a couples skate after Edy expressed an interest in him earlier. They remained avid skaters, Edy skating in competitions, teaching Jan and Darla how to skate when they were very young. He and Eddie would remain married until his passing.

Basketball, softball, and lifeguarding were some of his favorite pastimes. He managed a fast-pitch softball team to a league championship. He once dreamed of being a professional baseball player.

For decades he and Edy spent their winters in Weslaco, Texas, where Edy created and managed a non-profit music festival with Gene being responsible for raising sponsorships, running the sound systems, and doing some MC work. Over the course of many years the festival would grow into a regional annual event, raising tens of thousands of dollars for charitable donations. It was a work they both deeply enjoyed and felt very proud of in their "retirement" years.

Baptized, with Edy, into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1976, Gene would serve as Deacon of the Beaver Creek Seventh-day Adventist Church and a sister church in Mercedes, Texas. He and Edy remained faithful and active members through the years. He loved God and kept his hope in his Lord's soon return. In both Ohio and Texas Gene was known for his kindness, generosity, hard work, and loyal friendship. He loved his family, including many nieces and nephews, would often part with tears, and will be deeply missed by those who were privileged to know him.

Gene is survived by his wife, Edy McKenzie, two children, Jan Alan McKenzie and Darla Hensley, foster daughter, Charla Scovil and her son, Matthew Doucette;  three grandchildren, Ian McKenzie, Rachel Kinnear, and Kenneth Pauley. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother John, and half-sister, Margaret.

It was Gene express wish not to have a funeral service or viewing. He asked for cremation. He did not want to make a fuss.

There will be a memorial visitation from 3-4pm with memorial service and military honors to begin at 4:00pm on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 at the Miamisburg Seventh Day Adventist Church, 2155 Leiter Rd., Miamisburg, Ohio 45342.

It would take many pages for me, his son, to tell you what my father meant and means to me. I know many others could say the same. Kind, friendly, with a good sense of humor, a hard-working man, intelligent, quick-witted, so helpful — he was a presence of Christian goodness in the world. I will never forget the first time I saw him kneel and pray. Dad was modest, even shy at times in his tender-heartedness, not always able to express those deeper parts of himself. But I saw him. I loved my father, as did many of you, and he loved me. What more could I ask for?

Perhaps it's best to close with my father's favorite verses of Scripture:

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words."

— 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV