Gilbert “Gil” Raymond Fournier, age 80, passed away peacefully at his home in Kenosha on March 7, 2025. Gil was born in Lewiston, Maine, on June 29, 1944, to the late Gilbert D. Fournier and Marie Rose (Dutil) Fournier. On July 9th, 1966, he married Suzanne Schroeder of Bridgewater, S.D., with whom he would spend his life for the next 59 years. Gil was very proud of his seven children, 26 grandchildren and two great grandsons.
As a young man, Gil played the French horn bugle in the Scarlet Cadets drum and bugle corps. He joined the Air Force in 1962. After basic and advanced training, he served in the 3rd Weather Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb. As an airman, he worked on some of the military’s earliest advanced computing systems. In 1970, he began teaching college courses in computer programming at Northeast Technical College in Norfolk, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, before launching his own computer school, the Institute of Computer Science. Throughout his career, Gil followed his life-long passion for music and teaching, first by founding the Scarlet Cadets drum and bugle corps in Norfolk, Neb. In honor of the Bicentennial in 1976, he founded the first all-female drill team, the “Liberty Bells”, at Wayne State University in Wayne, Neb. In Norfolk, Neb., he founded a teen club where he tried to motivate at-risk youth to believe in themselves and follow a positive path. In all aspects of his life, he was motivated by his profound faith and love in God.
Ever creative, Gil wrote a multitude of songs, poems, and a novel. He especially loved creating humorous songs and skits. His interest in military history led him to write and produce a World War II-era musical in Maryland in 1997. Gil’s favorite thing by far was to make others laugh. Even in his later life when he suffered from chronic pain, he enjoyed telling jokes and humorous anecdotes. He loved referring to his wife and seven children by saying, “I never knew when I married Snow White, the seven dwarves came with the deal.”
Gil would go on to live in Maine, West Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Kentucky. Gil and his wife settled in Kenosha in 2009 to spend more time with their grandchildren, or his “tigers, turkey buzzards and Tweety Birds”, as he called them.
He is survived by his wife, Suzanne, his children David Fournier (Dawn), Stephen Fournier (Kelli), Daniel Fournier (Serena), Nicole Mulloy (Padraic), Michelle Antonacci Metallo, Colette Shackelford (Don) and Annette Fournier, and his grandchildren, Raymond, Heather, Dominic, Dawn, Emily, Vincent, Lily, Bryce and Greyson Fournier, Christina (Trisden) Carbaugh, Eva, Ian and Gaia Mulloy, James (Keyle), Thomas and Jillian Antonacci, Samantha, Sydney, Madelyn and Lucas Metallo, Ben, Cloud and Aidan Shackelford, Maya, Idriss and Lena Jelloul. He is preceded in death by his parents, his brother Robert Fournier, and sister Monique St. Pierre.
A Catholic mass will be held Tuesday, March 11 at 2 p.m. at St. Anne’s Catholic Church at 9091 Prairie Ridge Drive in Pleasant Prairie. Visitation begins at 1 p.m. Burial will be on Thursday March 13 at 11 a.m. at the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Union Grove. In lieu of flowers, the family requests for masses to be offered at Saint Anne’s or for donations to the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in Kenosha. The family would like to express their sincere thanks to the staff of the Zablocki Veteran Affairs Medical Center, particularly the Spinal Cord Unit, for their professionalism, kindness and care for Gil.
