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Frank Joe Vernon, age 91, passed away at home on June 30, 2024 , after bravely battling congestive heart failure and stage 4 kidney disease.

Joe was born February 22, 1933 in Lake City, Arkansas to Pearl Edgar (Slim) Vernon and Ona Louise Shoemaker.

He is survived by his daughter Lee Ann Patterson, (husband Robert) and his sister Mary Alice Boyer (husband Larry), their children and many nieces and
nephews.

He is predeceased by his loving wife Cynthia May, his brothers, James Crawford, Edward and sister Betty.

Joe came from humble beginnings and went to school in a one-room schoolhouse in Dyess, Arkansas. His first job at age seven was water boy; riding a blind mule to the cotton fields by himself to provide drinking water to the cotton pickers. Joe made a personal decision as a young adult to escape the brutal poverty in Arkansas and make something of himself. He enlisted in the Air Force and served from 1951-1955 during the Korean War. His military training began in Tillamook, Oregon for Airplane Mechanic; then Rocket Propulsion Training in Chanute, IL and then at Cape Canaveral, FL for the First Pilotless Squadron. He was a member of NATO and was stationed in Florence, Italy and Frankfort, Germany. When airplanes needed parts or repair, he and his crew would fly to those locations in Morocco, Libya, Greece, Turkey, Yugoslavia, France & more. The barracks where he was stationed in Italy was in an ancient 50-room villa that is still standing today. He told many exciting stories including one time when the captain asked him to pilot the plane (a C119-Flying Boxcar) to Belgium and land it on a tiny grass airstrip. That was the only time he piloted a plane.

After his service he attended college at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He met his beautiful wife Cynthia when she roomed with his sister Betty and they married in Mississippi on August 11, 1955. He had two job offers upon graduation, one with U.S. Gypsum in Oakfield, NY and the second in Seattle, Washington. He chose U.S. Gypsum and they moved to Oakfield. He became Superintendent of the Paper Mill and implemented many designs for better production and then went on to be Superintendent of the Board Plant. Toward the end of his career, he took the position of Quality Control Supervisor with U.S. Gypsum for the Northeast U.S., Canada and South America. The job required a lot of traveling troubleshooting issues for commercial and residential. He loved his career and certainly knew everything there was to know about papermaking and wallboard.

He was always worked with his hands and when he was first married, he made most of their furniture. Upon buying their home in Elba he and his wife maintained two huge gardens growing all their own vegetables. They both were very frugal and heated their home with wood we either got out of the forest behind the house or sometimes he had a semi-truck deliver logs which he chain sawed and split by himself to heat the home.

As a hobby, he enjoyed fine woodworking and started building dollhouses for his daughter. They became more intricate over time and he started to make dollhouses from actual house plans, reducing the plans from a foot to half an inch. Overall he has made about 20 dollhouses (all with custom- made furniture) including a full-scale replica of the homestead in Elba. After retirement he put a ship model kit together and that became his real passion. He started to make them from scratch (you know just glue some wood together and start sawing anything away that doesn’t look like a ship.) He has made about 50 sailing ships over the years, which are of museum quality. He had a showing at Go-Art several years ago and the Batavian produced a you-tube video titled “Joe Vernon Sailing Model Ship Building” of which he was very proud of. He showed photos of his ships and spoke of the video to just about every Dr. who took care of him at the Veterans Administration.

He loved unique and fancy vehicles and owned many over the years. He had an Izetta (made by BMW) when they lived in TN which drew a lot of attention. His latest sports car was the BMW Z3 5-speed convertible, which he bought for his wife. He loved driving it and even drove it to kidney dialysis last summer.

He was a remarkable, intelligent and gentle man who will be sorely missed. There are no prior calling hours and services will be private. He will be laid to rest alongside his wife of 63 years.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of H.E. Turner & Co., Inc. Funeral Home, Batavia. Please leave a condolence, share a story, or light a candle at www.bataviafuneralhomes.com.

December 22, 1945 – April 24, 2024. Vincent Lawrence George, 78, passed away peacefully in Chicago after a long and courageous fight with lung cancer.

Vince was born in December 1945 in Batavia, NY to the late Lawrence B. and Mary Arlene George of Elba, NY. From a young age, Vince worked alongside his parents and family members at George’s Dairy, founded by Vince’s grandparents Sylvester and Mary Petz George almost 100 years ago. To this day, Genesee County residents remember George’s Dairy for its quality milk and ice cream delivered with pride by the George family. Vince discovered many of his truest passions at an early age, such as baseball, trains, westerns, eating, and teasing the people he loved, all of which he pursued vigorously the rest of his life.

Graduating salutatorian at Elba Central School in 1963, he attended St. Bonaventure University, class of 1967, majoring in accounting. In 1967, Vince was a member of the first MBA class at the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 1973. After working at Price Waterhouse in Philadelphia from 1973-78, Vince moved to Dallas to work as Tax Director for the Trammell
Crow Company, a leading commercial real estate developer. He remained at Trammell Crow the next twenty years, working various leadership positions in venture capital and finance. For the final phase of his career, Vince worked at Centex and Panattoni Development Company in Dallas.

His favorite activities with his wife, Cynthia and children, Erika and Matthew, included traveling, watching movies, relaxing at Cedar Creek Lake and planning their next meal. He was a constant presence as a school volunteer and active member of Northridge Presbyterian Church.

When not traveling the world (he and Cindy visited over 150 countries together), he loved to visit his five grandchildren in San Antonio and Chicago. In Dallas, he volunteered as an English teacher at Literacy Achieves, as well as a docent at the George W. Bush Presidential Library. A week after visiting his seventh and final continent (Antarctica) with Cindy, Vince was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, fighting the disease for the next fourteen months until he passed away.

Vince was predeceased by his parents, his parents-in-law, James and Shirley Johnston, and Evelyn Johnston, his brother-in-law, Dr. John C. Gessner, his sister-in-law, Susan Johnston, and his niece, Nicole Wingate. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Cynthia Jean Johnston George, daughter Erika (Blake) Romney of San Antonio, TX and son Matthew (Claire) George
of Chicago, IL, beloved grandchildren, Annie, Greyson, Ford and baby Romney (expected in August), and Shirley and Eamon George. Vince is also survived by his sisters, Elizabeth (Joseph) Ivers of Houston, TX and Margaret George of Saint Paul, MN, his brother-in-law Randy (Carolyn) Johnston of Knoxville, TN, seven nieces and nephews, aunt Shirley George
(Thomas) Edbauer of North Tonawanda, NY and numerous cousins.

Vince was one-of-a-kind in his intelligence, generosity, and goodness. We love you, and still hear your laugh.

A memorial service will be held at Northridge Presbyterian Church (6920 Bob O Link Drive, Dallas, Tx, 75214) on Friday, May 3^rd, at 10am CDT. For those unable to travel, the service will be livestreamed here. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Northridge Presbyterian Church’s “Memorials and Honoraria” page, typing Vince’s name under “Please Specify.” The link can be found here.