Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 15 July 2026 by Allen Gurney

These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.

Lester Hayes Gurney (G02) Notes

Research notes for g02-lester-hayes-gurney-fact-sheet.md. See .claude/rules/research-files.md for the paired-file rule.

Working Notes

Primary source — Fairhaven Funeral Home obituary (2025)

Published obituary at https://www.fairhavenfortwayne.com/obituaries/lester-gurney. Captured 25 April 2026. Family-supplied biography hosted by the funeral home; for an immediate ancestor it functions as a near-primary source for vital facts and as an authoritative family-supplied source for biographical narrative.

Full obituary text preserved on fairhaven-lester-obituary entry in data/sources.json. Key extracts the fact sheet draws on:

  • Born 16 November 1945, New York City; died 16 December 2025, The Towne House Retirement Community, Fort Wayne, IN, age 80.
  • Parents: “the late Lester Sawyer Gurney III and Edith Walberg.”
  • Education: B.S. Electrical Engineering, Valparaiso University.
  • Career: “third-generation power engineer with Indiana & Michigan Electric Company (now AEP).”
  • Wife: Dana Ault Gurney, married 22 June 1968 in Fulton, Indiana; met at Valparaiso University; predeceased him.
  • Masonic: “five-generation family tradition in Freemasonry”; Master Mason, McCulloch Lodge No. 737, Marion, IN; Scottish Rite; Salaam Shriners.
  • Civic: Kiwanis Club 25 years (Secretary); Habitat for Humanity; BSA Troop 433 (Marion, Treasurer); IEEE 50+ years.
  • Faith: Westminster Presbyterian Church (Marion, IN); First Presbyterian Church (Fort Wayne, IN).
  • Survivors: son Allen Gurney (Portland, OR); daughter-in-law Beth Levy (Portland, OR); grandchildren Ebba Gurney and Soren Gurney (Ann Arbor, MI); brother-in-law Carl Ault (Rochester, IN); sister-in-law Rita Ault (Rochester, IN); nieces, nephews, and their children.
  • Predeceased: wife Dana Gurney; son Kenneth Gurney.
  • Memorial: Celebration of Life 17 January 2026, 2:00 PM, The Towne House Retirement Community Chapel, 2209 Saint Joe Center Road, Fort Wayne. Memorials to the Parkinson’s Foundation. Arrangements by FairHaven Funeral Home.

Family handwritten notes - St. Vincent’s Hospital and wartime birth context

Dana Gurney’s notes add a precise hospital-level birth detail for Lester Hayes Gurney: he was born 16 November 1945 in New York City at St. Vincent’s Hospital, while his father, Lester Sawyer Gurney III, was stationed at Manila with the 536th Signal Heavy Construction Company. The note preserves a useful wartime family context: G3 was overseas/absent at G2’s birth, and the family was still in the New York City orbit in November 1945.[1]

Three-generation continuity at Indiana & Michigan Electric Company

The obituary’s “third-generation power engineer” claim is now documented at all three links. G4 (Lester Sawyer Gurney Jr., 1888–1958) spent some thirty-five years with the New England Power System, rising to Construction Manager before retiring in 1953 (1953 trade clippings). G3 (Lester Sawyer Gurney III, 1923–2011) was an assistant construction engineer for the New England Power Company in Boston in 1942 (his wartime Separation Qualification Record) before a later New Jersey career remembered as McGraw Edison. G2 worked for Indiana and Michigan Electric. The three generations therefore run New England Power (G4, G3) into Indiana and Michigan Electric (G2).

Five-generation Masonic line

The obituary’s “five-generation family tradition in Freemasonry” is the most concrete cross-generational claim in any source consulted. Direct-line Masons documented or claimed in the project so far:

  • G6 Brig. Gen. William Gurney — organizer and “Father” of Continental Lodge No. 287, NY (lodge history; G5 fact sheet, citation n10).
  • G5 Lester Sawyer Gurney — member and master, Continental Lodge No. 287, NY (1899 Brooklyn Daily Eagle obituary; G5 fact sheet).
  • G3 Lester Sawyer Gurney III — junior deacon, St. Alban’s Lodge No. 6, F. & A.M., Bristol, Rhode Island, December 1955 (2026 Gurney family-papers clipping).
  • G2 Lester Hayes Gurney — Master Mason, McCulloch Lodge No. 737, Marion, IN; Scottish Rite; Salaam Shriners (FairHaven obituary).

That accounts for four of the five generations. The remaining likely missing link is G4, probably in a Massachusetts lodge during the Wellesley / Wellesley Hills years.

The geographic transition: New York → Indiana

Les is the last direct-line Gurney born in the New York metropolitan area. The family had been New York–based continuously since Willis Gurney (G7) arrived in Flushing, Queens, from Cummington, Massachusetts, in the early nineteenth century — a span of roughly five generations and 150 years in the New York region. Allen (G1) was born in Marion, Indiana, in 1972; Les and Dana evidently had moved to Indiana by the late 1960s, with their marriage at Fulton (Fulton County, IN) in June 1968.

Open Questions

  1. The remaining Masonic generation. G3 is now documented as junior deacon of St. Alban’s Lodge No. 6, Bristol, Rhode Island (December 1955). Is G4 documented in any Massachusetts lodge during the Wellesley / Wellesley Hills years? Worth searching the List of Lodges Masonic annuals for the relevant years.
  2. Dana Ault’s parentage and Ault family origins. Brother-in-law Carl and sister-in-law Rita are Aults of Rochester, Indiana — Fulton County (where Les and Dana married) is the next county west. Ault genealogy in Fulton/Pulaski County, Indiana, is the next research target if Dana’s line is to be developed.
  3. G3’s exact death date and location. G3 entry in data/ancestors v26.json records “1923–19 December 2011,” with geography “New York area; Morristown, NJ; Hackettstown, NJ” — but the obituary tells us G2 was born in NYC, not Indiana, suggesting the family was still in the NY/NJ area into 1945. The G3 → G2 geographic transition deserves a closer look.

Sources Consulted

  • FairHaven Funeral Home obituary (primary). Source ID: fairhaven-lester-obituary.
  • data/ancestors v26.json for the G1 collateral entry on Kenneth Gurney (1974–2013, Dexter, MI).

Sources to obtain

  • Marriage record: Lester Hayes Gurney + Dana Ault, 22 June 1968, Fulton, Indiana (Fulton County clerk; Indiana State Library marriage indexes).
  • Birth record: Lester Hayes Gurney, 16 November 1945, New York City (NYC Department of Health vital records; or Social Security Death Index).
  • Death record / SSA: Lester Hayes Gurney, 16 December 2025, Allen County, Indiana.
  • Valparaiso University alumni records / yearbooks (1960s) for Les and Dana.
  • McCulloch Lodge No. 737, Marion, IN — Masonic membership records and dates of degrees.
  • Indianapolis Star, Marion Chronicle-Tribune, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette — supplementary obituary coverage if any.

Notes on Confidence Conservation

The fact sheet names Allen Gurney (G1, living), Beth Levy (Allen’s wife), and the grandchildren Ebba and Soren Gurney, all of whom are living. This is consistent with Allen’s instruction (April 2026 chat) to include the full obituary content. The published obituary is a public-facing document already naming these individuals; reproducing it on the fact sheet does not introduce private detail beyond what the family elected to publish at the time of the death.

  1. Gurney family handwritten oral-history and research notes, revised findings memorandum v3 prepared 4 May 2026 from eight photographed notebook pages, Appendix A, Page 5 transcription in Dana Gurney’s hand. Source ID: gurney-family-handwritten-notes-1963. ↩︎