Eugene “Gene” Robert Forgo, 78, from Olympia, Kentucky, passed away unexpectedly on March 16, 2022.
Gene was born on December 2, 1943, to Robert P. Forgo and Gwendolyn Moad-Forgo in Los Angeles, California. He was one (1) of two (2) children, including his twin sister, Anita. After graduating from Claremont High School in 1962, he volunteered in the Air Force, where he attained the rank of Airman First Class and served as a supply engineer during the Vietnam War.
After his service commitment ended, Gene enrolled in the Washington D.C. Police Academy and graduated in 1967. He served with distinction in the police force and helped quell the riots in Washington in 1968. A severely broken leg forced him to leave the police force in 1973, and he became a structural steel engineer, where he examined the safety of bridges and buildings. In the late 1970s, he became a computer technician for ADT Security, and in the early 1980s, he became a handgun tester for Beretta Firearms. He returned to work at ADT Security in the early 1990s, but he returned to his law enforcement roots in the late 1990s when he became a bail recovery agent, a role he served until he retired in 2008.
Gene was a very passionate outdoorsman and hunter. He would often walk the wooded trails around Accokeek, Bryans Road, Mattawoman Creek, and Pomfret, Maryland, where he would park himself on a tree trunk or in a deer stand to hunt deer, wild turkey, and squirrels. He lived by the mantra “never kill what you don’t intend to eat.” He made sure his children knew how to hunt, fish, and prepare the game, too. Retirement allowed Gene to spend more time out in the woods. He moved to Olympia, Kentucky, where the wilderness was at his doorstep. He would often go out hunting or grab his rod and reel and drop a line in his trout and bass-stocked pond. He often found art and beauty in nature. He was an avid taxidermist, and his home was filled with bears, antelope, beavers, squirrels, pheasants, and turkeys, all reminding him f his favorite pastime. He enjoyed woodworking whenever he had the chance and was a gifted gardener; he never had a problem getting his hands dirty.
Gene met his wife, Virginia Odell—known by friends as “Jenny”—after he was honorably discharged from the Air Force. They married in 1970, and they raised a family of five (5) children together. They made their home in rural Accokeek, Maryland. They spent 27 happy years together before her tragic passing in February 1997.
He is survived by a loving family: his children, Tomas, Nicholas, Richard, Gina, and Paula; his twin sister, Anita O’Halloran; two nephews, Christopher, and Jay; six grandchildren, Jennifer, Anastasia, Emily, Brandon, Kyle, and Hunter; and five great-grandchildren, Miley, Tristan, Kriss, Zane and Eritrea.
We mourn the loss of our father, husband, brother, and friend, but we encourage all who knew him to remember the beauty he brought to this world. He was a strong, kind, loving, and supportive man, and many will greatly miss him.
The family will be accepting friends for Gene’s Memorial Gathering on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A. at 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with his Memorial Service starting at 11:30 a.m. officiated by Pastor Dave Huffman of South Potomac Church in White Plains, MD. Interment will be held immediately after at Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery, 11301 Crain Hwy, Cheltenham, MD 20623, with Military Honors.
Condolences to the family may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.
All arrangements have been made at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., Charlotte Hall, MD.
