Glen Everett Torrey
Published 5:00 am Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Services for Glen Everett Torrey, of Merritt Island, Fla., willbe held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 12, at Meadville PresbyterianChurch with burial in Midway Cemetery in Meadville. FranklinFuneral Home in Meadville is in charge of arrangements.
Visitation is Thursday from 9 a.m. until the time of the serviceat the church.
Mr. Torrey died June 5, 2008. He was born in Meadville on Aug.7, 1938, to Lexine Everett and James Alexander Torrey, who was thedistinguished circuit court judge for five counties inMississippi.
He was a graduate of the University of Mississippi with anengineering degree. He was a very active member of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An avid fisherman and sports carenthusiast, he also played basketball, football and softball.
Mr. Torrey was an important part of manned spaceflight, from thebeginning of the Apollo program to the later days of the shuttleprogram. He began working with North American Rockwell in Downey,Calif., in 1962, as a ground support equipment design engineer forthe Apollo spacecraft before transferring to the Kennedy SpaceCenter in Florida, in 1966, as the project engineer for all Apollofluid and mechanical ground systems. He returned to Downey in 1972,at the completion of the Apollo lunar flight, and becameresponsible for the integration of space shuttle flight and groundsystems. In 1977, he returned to Florida to head up the RockwellShuttle Project Office. From 1984 until 1989 he was the vehicleproject manager for the Challenger and Discovery shuttle orbitersbefore becoming the manager of Shuttle Configuration Requirementsand then manager of GSE Design until his retirement from Rockwell.After his retirement, he continued to support the shuttle program,working with the United Space Alliance at the NASA ShuttleLogistics Depot in Cape Canaveral. His contributions to the U.S.Space Program were extensive.
Survivors are his wife, Marian; his children, Teri (Charlie)Davidson, Jennifer (Bart) Denny, Susan (Ian) Thomas, Tyler(Vanessa) Torrey, Candese (John) Alexander and Geoffrey (Shanley)Marchese; his brother, James (Tammy) Torrey, of Meadville; and 16grandchildren.