Visitation for Mrs. Emma Fortune will be held on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. at Downs Funeral Home. A graveside service will follow visitation at 3:00 p.m. at Andrews Cemetery. Bro. John Nathan McGuire will officiate the service.

Mother was born November 2 ^nd 1922 in Greensville, Texas to John Wesley Counts and Elsie Jones. She had one brother, Dan Counts and two sisters; Bonzie Counts Holmes and Opal Counts Ray. At the age of 4 the family loaded up their belongings into a wagon and moved to the Red Land Community in Wood County, Texas. They moved into an old house with one small fireplace. This was before electricity and running water. She and her brother and sisters walked about three miles to school in a small building with no electricity or running water.

Her father, John Counts soon built a log house nearby and close to the West Lake Hunting and Fishing Club. This is where she first met Dub fortune one evening when Ray fortune dropped him off to play on his way over to the Hunting and Fishing Club.

3 or 4 years later they moved to Crow, Texas, a small sawmill town near the Sabine River. Just so happened that Dub Fortune lived in Crow also and so the romance began.

This was during the Great Depression and life was difficult for most families, but mother said they always had food on the table. Her father was a farmer and they lived off the land.

Dub joined the Navy after High School and shortly thereafter WWII began.

Mother went to welding school in Marshall as part of the War Support Effort. She was then taken on a bus to the Houston ship yard where she welded on Naval Warships for almost 2 years.

She then caught a Troop Train to San Diego, California to marry Dub who had just come back from Guadalcanal. Of course, marriage was first on the agenda. They were married by a Catholic Priest . I don't think they ever told their parents this. Finding a place to rent in San Diego during the war was not easy. They settled for the first thing they could find. It was a room in a house that belonged to an older married couple. One evening at the supper table the older couple got into an argument about something and Dub decided to get involved in support of the husband. The wife did not take kindly to it and immediately evicted both of them back out on the street, looking for a new place to rent. This incident, and getting married by a Catholic Priest was just recently told to us by mother.

They soon found a place to rent in Chula Vista. Mother got a job working for Roher Air Craft Co. working on damaged airplanes brought back from the S. Pacific for repair.

They talked about what they were going to do after the War ended. They were planning on touring the USA. When the War did suddenly end, they were so happy and excited they couldn't get back home fast enough!!

During the War our grandparents Ray and Ella Mae Fortune had moved to Karnack so he could work at the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant. So, they came to Karnack where they lived for the rest of their lives, about 70 years.

Mrs. Fortune was an artist. She loved to sew, garden, read, and cook. She was the most gentle spirit and had a joy for keeping the children at church.

Mrs. Fortune is survived by her children, John Ray Fortune, Paul Louis Fortune and spouse Carol, JoAnn Fortune Booth and spouse Jack; brother-in-law Robert Ray; sister-in-law's, Betty McGuire, Dorothy Hayner; five grandchildren, Justin Booth and spouse Amanda, Patrick Fortune, Kandace Flowers and Spouse Kevin, Stefan Smith and spouse Dee, David Smith; nine great-grandchildren, Hannah Avila, Emma Tinkle, Ethan Smith, Jayden Smith, Sadie Severance, Nathan Smith, Noah Smith, Brody Booth, Baylor Booth; numerous nieces, nephews, other family and friends.

Mrs. Fortune is preceded in death by her parents, John Wesley and Elsie Counts; loving husband, Louise William "Dub" Fortune; brother, Dan Counts; sisters, Bonzie Holmes and Opal Ray.