Gary C. Furlong

Gary C. Furlong, husband of Polly Reiter Furlong, age 79, of Dover, PA, formerly of Media, PA, met his Savior  on Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, PA.

Born in Johnstown, PA on February 14, 1942, he was the son of the late Clarence E. and Lois Schaffer Furlong.

He graduated from Conemaugh High School in 1960. Gary’s father, a steel worker, helped him to study at Penn State University and he graduated in 1964. Gary met Polly in a campus group, Innervarsity Christian Fellowship. They have many lifetime friends from there and helped organize and attend four reunions at State College.

For 46 years, Gary had been a Chemical/Environmental Engineer, working for Sunoco Company in Philadelphia, PA. Sunoco was a PEW-owned Family centered company.

Business travel required of Gary, usually to refineries in the mid-west or the gulf states. He found dining in places like New Orleans to be pretty amazing for a mill-town boy. Gary ate frog legs, alligator and prawns on the company!

Polly and Gary traveled extensively, starting in their 20’s, camping in National Parks on the East Coast. In 1977, they went to Israel, Jordan and Greece with her parents’ Harrisburg church. Later they spent a month driving through the British Isles. Polly’s Aunt May Schwab of Mars, PA, was a war bride and had family in England and Wales. May’s brothers and niece welcomed the Furlong’s into their homes.

Three other trips to Northern Europe were done by Auto-Train. They enjoyed traveling being totally on their own, learning foreign phrases, exchanging money in each country, and moving slowly to savor it. In their 56 years of marriage they saw Hawaii, camped on St. John, Virgin Islands, and took their daughter, April, though many western states, Alaska, Bermuda, and Portugal.

Gary was a member of St. Davids Evangelical Congregational church in Dover, PA. He sang in the mens gospel group that visited nursing homes. Daughter April sang duets with him, sometimes on her birthday, Christmas Eve.

Upon retiring in 2007, Gary fulfilled his wife's dream of returning to the countryside. Moving 20 minutes North of Gettysburg, they found 18 acres along a creek with fields and woods. Here, Gary was able to hunt on his own land, bagging a Doe with a bow, and in another season, one with a rifle. He and April fished for Bass and Catfish under large Sycamore trees.

Watching Golf was a passion, and together his family went to driving ranges and small courses. One month before passing on, he played 9 holes with a decent score and was so excited!

Quiet and unassuming, Gary was blessed by the love and support for him and his girls during his last 20 days on earth. In the ICU, Gary's Wife, Daughter, and Son in Law spent 5 hours singing and encouraging him with loving memories and Bible verses. One hour after they left, he slipped away. Jesus said: "In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer-for I have overcome the world!"

Surviving are his wife, Polly A. Reiter Furlong who he married in Evan City on July 17, 1965, his daughter, April Constance Thomas (Barry) of East Berlin PA, a sister, Patricia G. Mauk of Conemaugh, PA, a niece, Tara Barnes of Pittsburg PA.

Friends are invited to a gravesite service at West Union Cemetery, Bakerstown Warrendale Rd., Gibsonia PA, on Saturday September 18, 2021 at 1:30 PM.

His brother in law, Reverend Dr. Dennis Reiter will officiate. Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children Research Hospital in his memory. Arrangements are under the direction of McDonald-Aeberli.