Jerry Lee Fortner

Jerry Lee Fortner passed away on February 25, 2020 at 11:59 pm.  He was born on March 1, 1947 in St. Vincent Hospital to John M. and Lenora J.M. Fortner in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He attended Hall, Elementary School.  He graduated Decatur Central Jr. and Sr. High School, and Hanover College with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and was a member of the PHI Gamma Delta fraternity. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge.  He retired from Ford Motor Company in 2000 as a superintendent with 40 years of service.

He was married 7 years and had no biological children.  After seeing each of his parents to their death with Pancreatic cancer, his cats were his immediate family.  He continued with them and maintained three to six throughout his life.

His favorite places to be was by his backyard pool or riding one of his motor-cycles by day or at the casino by night.  He belonged to the Harley Davidson Owner Group and enjoyed doing multiple runs for charity.  The pain of playing football in high school moved his love for the game to the armchair.   If there was a football game on TV, he was devoted to watching it.  He loved college football and the colts.  He also loved watching “Nascar” on TV. That was better than going to the track.  At any time you would find him packing a gun, one or two on his body and one or two in his car.   He was the tough guy ready to defend self and others, even when he was struggling the stand.  Those of you who shared target shooting time with him, know how much he enjoyed trying his skills with different types of guns.  He was very much at home with country music and rock and roll.

The last decade of his life Jerry started attending a small group Bible study and Traders Point Christian Church services.  In 2011 on Easter he was baptized.  He has been faithful to his Bible study and church attendance.  Every time the study would meet to study or to socialize, he made it a priority to be  there. He was a student of history, especially WWII history, where his father fought in the Battle of Normandy.  The Old Testament history was his favorite place to read in the Bible.