Eugene Maclin Revelle
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Eugene Maclin Revelle, 92, of Sesser, Illinois died Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 at the home of his sister, Eunice Ritter, in Pinckneyville, Illinois, where he had spent the last several years in failing health.
"Gene" was born June 3, 1917, in Sunfield, Illinois, the son of Axum Revelle and Elsie Martel Revelle. He attended Sunfield School and graduated from DuQuoin Township High School in 1935 during the Great Depression.
In 1938 he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. He was stationed near Contact, Nevada helping build a new CCC camp. Here he learned welding, surveying, mechanics, and other valuable skills. In 1942 he began working for Pacific Bridge Company and was immediately transferred to Hawaii to help in the construction of overhead cranes and dry docks and in the raising of United States ships sunk when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He then worked for the United States Army Engineers on the Island of Guam and was there when the Japanese surrendered in 1945. In 1945-46 he was involved in loading a huge electric power plant and a giant suction dredge into a dry dock and towing it 1600 miles north into Tokyo Bay. They built the long runway for the International Airport there called Haneda.
This completed, he returned home to the United States. In 1948 he began working for Chicago Bridge & Iron, a company that erected oil storage tanks and refinery pressure vessels. This work took him to many areas in the United States, Asia, South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East as oil discoveries were being developed in the Arabian Gulf, the Middle East, and the North Sea. He also spent eight months in Thule, Greenland, working with a consortium building Thule Air Base for the U.S. Army.
He retired from the Chicago Bridge & Iron company in 1982 and returned to Southern Illinois, where he started and ran a used car business in Sesser until 1998, when he retired for health reasons, including progressive blindness secondary macular degeneration and glaucoma.
In 1948 he married Vera Defur of Du Quoin. They were together for several years and raised a son, Lance Corporal Glenn U. Revelle, who was killed in VietNam in 1967. In 1967 he married Kiymet Mavisu in Istanbul, Turkey, and upon Geneís retirement, they called Sesser, Illinois and Los Angeles, California their homes.
Gene was preceded in death by his parents, his son Glenn, his wives Vera and Kiymet, three brothers, Howard Revelle of Lexington, Illinois, Elmer ìTugî Revelle of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Glenn M. Revelle of Crossville, Tennessee; two sisters, Evalyn Madge in infancy, and Elnora (Frank) Shurtz of Sesser, Illinois. He is survived by two sisters, Verda Lou (Todd) Stevison of Sesser and Eunice (Leo) Ritter of Pinckneyville, two sisters-in-law, Edna (Howard) Revelle of Lexington, Illinois, and Louann (Glenn) Revelle of Crossville, Tennessee, and many loving nieces and nephews.
Gene loved his work and his family. He loved classic cars and Nascar racing. A wonderful singer, he loved country western music and would surprise and delight friends and family by breaking into song. He knew the love of Jesus and was thankful to the Good Lord for his full and exciting life and that he would dwell with his Heavenly Father.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Nine Mile Cemetery Association. Searby Funeral Home of Du Quoin handled arrangements. Visitation was on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 from 5 - 8 p.m. The funeral service was on Wednesday, March 3 at 11 a.m. at Searby Funeral Home, with Rev. Tim Bauersachs officiating. Interment followed in the Sunset Memorial Park.
For additional information or to sign the memorial guest register, please visit www.searbyfuneralhomes.com.