MEADVILLE – Services for Glen Everett Torrey, of Merritt Island, Fla., who died Thursday, June 5, 2008, will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Meadville Presbyterian Church.
Burial will follow at Midway Cemetery, in Meadville, under the direction of Franklin Funeral Home in Meadville.
Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until service time Thursday at the church.
Mr. Torrey was born Aug. 7, 1938, in Meadville, the son of James Alexander Torrey and Lexine Everett Torrey. His father was the distinguished circuit court judge for five counties in Mississippi.
Mr. Torrey graduated from University of Mississippi with an engineering degree. He was a very active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an avid fisherman and sports car enthusiast. He also played basketball, football and softball.
Mr. Torrey was an important part of manned space flight, from the beginning of the Apollo program to the later days of the Shuttle program. He started working for North American Rockwell, in Downey, Calif., in 1962 as a ground support equipment design engineer for the Apollo Spacecraft before transferring to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in 1966 as the project engineer for all Apollo fluid and mechanical ground systems. He returned to Downey in 1972, at the completion of the Apollo lunar flight, and became responsible for the integration of Space Shuttle flight and ground systems. In 1977, he returned to Florida to head up the Rockwell Shuttle Project Office. From 1984 to 1989, he was the vehicle project manager of the Challenger and Discovery shuttle orbiters before becoming the manager of shuttle configuration requirements and then manager of GSE Design until his retirement from Rockwell. After his retirement from Rockwell, Glen continued to support the shuttle program, working for the United Space Alliance at NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot in Cape Canaveral. His contributions to the U.S. Space program were extensive.
Survivors include his wife, Marian; six children, Teri Davidson and husband, Charlie, Jennifer Denny and husband, Bart, Susan Thomas and husband, Ian, Tyler Torrey and wife, Vanessa, Candese Alexander and husband, John, and Geoffrey Marchese and wife, Shanley; one brother, James Torrey and wife, Tammy, both of Meadville; and 16 grandchildren.