MCPO/EQCM
Michael Gene Dooner was born in Stockton, California on January 3, 1933. By the time he was 12, he, his brother, Jerry, and his parents had lived in the eleven western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and they also lived for a brief time in Pennsylvania. Some of Gene’s boyhood jobs included picking fruit in Provo, Utah, and selling newspapers on the streets and in saloons and gambling halls in Tonopah, Nevada.
He met and married his wife, Janice, on November 23, 1951, in their late teens. They had two sons, Michael in 1952 and Douglas in 1956. By the time Jan passed away in 2003, Gene and Jan had been married for 51 years.
Gene’s adult career began just out of high school, when he worked from 1950 to 1955 for private contractors on a variety of construction jobs as a heavy-equipment operator, usually operating a bulldozer. Then he went to work for, and eventually retired from, the City of Los Angeles, where he was valued for his ability to solve problems by applying creative solutions he had learned in past positions.
In February 1951, Gene began serving 34 years as a reservist in the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF), better known as Navy Seabees. He worked his way up to Master Chief in Alpha Company, where he would find out the work and machines required for the other Seabee companies’ work projects, and then assign people qualified to run those machines. He worked in San Clemente, California; Kodiak, Alaska; Puerto Rico; and Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii.
Gene and his family enjoyed tent-camping, water skiing, motorcycling, and travel-trailer road trips. Gene’s spare-time hobby was woodworking, using a scroll saw to make gifts for friends and family.
About a year ago, when asked to reflect on his life overall, Gene said that he had spent a lot of time with the Seabees and had been away from home a lot as a result. He also said, “I was a hard worker for whoever I worked for.” Indeed, early in his career as a construction worker for a private contractor, Gene received high praise: the foreman told him that the superintendent (who the foreman said “never compliments anyone”) had said that Gene was a better worker than the older, more experienced workers on the job site.
Gene used to tell his workers, “Anything less than right is wrong.” In fact, that was a moral compass for his entire life.
On November 17, 2022, Michael Gene Dooner passed away peacefully in Arcadia, California. He was predeceased by his parents, his wife, and his two sons, and is survived by his brother, three grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
A public visitation is scheduled from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on December 5, 2022 at the Rose Hills Mortuary Visitation Center (Gate 1). The funeral service will be held at 9:00 a.m. on December 6, 2022, at the Memorial Chapel of Rose Hills Memorial Park, Gate 1, 3888 Workman Mill Road, in Whittier, with graveside service immediately following. Flowers may be sent to Rose Hills; or, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Seabees Historical Foundation (SeabeeHF.org) or the Long Beach VA Hospital (Pay.gov/public/form/start/52238064).
If you would like to share an obituary of a loved one to be listed here, please contact the Navy Seabee Foundation at info@seabee.org.