Eugene O. Birge

Frostproof - Eugene Birge or better known as Gene or Reds (due to his red hair) passed away on April 4, 2020; God Rest His Soul. Gene was born on March 22, 1925 to Henry and Christine Birge in Brewster, Florida. He was inducted into the United States Army on May 1, 1943 and he stormed the beaches of Normandy France along with thousands of other brave soldiers on June 6, 1944 as part of D-Day. He returned to his home in Hagerstown, Maryland after the war to become a lineman for the power company. He met his bride, Rebecca Long, known as Beckie, in Baltimore, Maryland in 1953 and they were married November 6, 1954 in Mechanicsville, Maryland. Gene and Beckie had six children over the next 8 years. Prior to their sixth child they picked up everything they had, which was not much, and moved to Spokane, Washington in 1962. Gene sold real estate for many years and started a successful escrow company before officially retiring in 1991. They had a very active retirement throughout the early 1980’s returning each winter to various parts of Florida while exploring the rest of this great country in their RV. They made so many friends in the many places and campgrounds they visited. Gene and Beckie resided in Spokane until 1997 when they returned to Florida to make a new home in Okeechobee until 2015, when they moved to Frostproof. Gene loved his country, God, family, hunting, fishing and Florida. In his younger years he traveled to Canada to hunt big horn sheep. In his later years he fished just about every body of water he could, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and waters off the coast of Alaska, the Ten Thousand Islands off the coast of Florida, Lake Okeechobee, Kootenai Lake in Canada and many more lakes and rivers throughout the Northwest and Southern Florida. Fishing was his true passion. Gene is survived by his wife Beckie Birge of over 65 years (Frostproof, FL); Ann (daughter) and David Rickey (Salt Lake City, UT); Michael (son) and Denise Birge (Surprise, AZ); Becky(daughter) Pope (Spokane, WA); Chris (son) and Rita Birge (Lacey, WA): David (son)and Shelly Birge (Spokane, WA); 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grand-children. Gene was preceded in death by his daughter Mary Freitag, his son-in-law Don Pope and his granddaughter Jessica Birge. Gene will be buried with military honors next to his Mom and Dad and most of his siblings at Homeland Cemetery in Bartow, Florida on Wednesday, April 29th at 10:00 a.m.. Our family asks for your prayers for our Dad, that he may rest in peace and for our Mom, who has fought Parkinson’s for many years and continues to be a cheerful humble servant to God and her family.