Ira "Gene" Gile, 74, Garden City, MO, died Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at the Kansas City Hospice House in Kansas City, MO. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, October 23, 2009 at the Atkinson Chapel in Harrisonville, MO with visitation from 2:00-2:30 p.m. at the chapel. Burial will be in Austin Cemetery in Archie, MO.

Gene was born January 15, 1935 in Kansas City, MO, the son of Ira "Pete" and Milicent (Stuber) Gile. He was a 1953 graduate of Harrisonville High School and received a Mechanical Engineer degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO in 1959 and was in the upper 10% of his class. He was a certified member of Pi Tau Sigma Fraternity for Mechanical Engineers. He served in the U. S. Navy during the Korean conflict. Gene married Jo Ann Fairbanks on August 5, 1956 at the Archie Methodist Church in Archie, MO.

Gene worked for Eastman-Kodak as a mechanical engineer in Rochester, New York where he lived until moving to Garden City, MO in 1996. He helped design the Apollo spacecraft while working for Eastman-Kodak. In his later years, Gene had worked part-time for Garden City Plastics.

Gene was preceded in death by his father and one brother, Bob Gile. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jo Ann, of the home; three daughters, Marsha Jean Lowe (Dennis) of Bella Vista, AR, Teresa Ann Edwards (Darren) of Lenexa, KS and Melissa Jo Ann Robertson (Tim) of Lee's Summit, MO; his mother, Millicent Gaines of Harrisonville, MO; one sister, Martha Pena of Harrisonville, MO; five grandchildren, Samantha, Andrew and Casey Lowe and Stella and Sophia Robertson and many nieces, nephews and friends.