Glenn Edward Torrey

Glenn Edward Torrey, 91, passed away Sunday, July 3, 2022 in Redmond, Washington. He was born in Yuba City, California on December 4, 1930, the youngest of four children born to Tevis Max Torrey and Hazel Houck Torrey. His mother was a registered nurse. His father operated an automobile repair shop where Glenn received a lifelong interest and involvement in maintaining and repairing his cars and those of his children. The family moved quite often with Glenn attending four elementary schools in Paradise and Hamilton City, California, Table Rock, Oregon, and Chico, California. He attended Chico High School for two years before his family moved to Eugene, Oregon where he graduated from University High School in 1948. At both schools he played on the basketball teams. During his high school years, Glenn committed his life to Jesus Christ, a commitment which characterized his life and activities.

He received a BS in history from the University of Oregon in 1952 and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society. During the Korean War between 1950 to 1954, he served as a lieutenant in the United States Air Force as an aircraft controller, stationed at Watertown Air Force Station in upstate New York for 20 months, scrambling fighter planes if radar indicated any unidentified aircraft entering US airspace from Canada. After his discharge, he pursued graduate programs in history at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Oregon. From the latter, he received MA and PhD degrees in history. While in graduate school, he met and married Sally Ann Shideler. In their 20-year marriage, which ended in 1979, daughters Elizabeth and Rebecca and son Peter were born.

Glenn began a 37-year teaching career as a professor of European History at Emporia State University in 1959, in Emporia, Kansas. During that time, he received a number of sabbatical leaves as well as research grants from the Fulbright Commission and the International Research and Exchange Board which enabled him to pursue his research interest in Romania during the First World War. He and his family were resident in Bucharest during the 1961-1962 and the 1966 - 1967 academic years and spring semesters in 1972 and 1976. These trips also involved summer research in Germany, Austria, Italy, France and England and served as a basis for his extensive writing and publishing on the history of Romania during the First World War.

It was important to Glenn to be actively involved in his faith community. He served as faculty advisor for Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, initiated the founding of a Youth for Christ ministry and a nonprofit Christian bookstore in Emporia, and served in his local church as a deacon and adult and college Sunday school teacher. Most recently, he was a member of Bellevue Presbyterian Church.

In 1982, he married Audrey Van den Bosch Bakker and became a stepfather to Dirk and Verla Bakker. Together with Audrey, he took additional research trips to Romania, Western Europe, and Russia in 1983 and 1990.

Upon his retirement from teaching in 1996, Glenn and Audrey moved to Bellevue, Washington to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Glenn devoted more time to writing up the results of the historical documentation he gathered during his research trips to Europe. His publications included six books related to Romania during the First World War, three of which have been translated into Romanian. For his last book, The Romanian Battlefront During the First World War, he was awarded the 2012 Norman B. Tomlinson, Jr. prize by the World War I Historical Association.

Glenn was a voracious reader and enjoyed growing vegetables, jogging, taking on home remodeling projects, fixing up cars and helping out with the grandchildren. Glenn is survived by two brothers, Martin Torrey of San Diego, California and Richard Torrey of Medford, Oregon; two daughters, Elizabeth Jernberg of Seattle, Washington and Rebecca Torrey of Santa Monica, California; one son, Peter Torrey of Irvine, California; stepson Dirk Bakker of Bellevue, Washington; and stepdaughter Verla Bakker-Hirsch Foutz of Richland, Washington. He has six grandchildren and five step-grandchildren. His wife, Audrey, and his sister, Lucille Juanarena, preceded him in death.

A private memorial service is being held in Bellevue, Washington. Memorial contributions may be made to the Romanian Bible Society ([email protected]), Heifer International (heifer.org) or the University District Food Bank (udistrictfoodbank.org).