Frank Hires Gage

Mr. Gage died Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004, at Manor Care in Overland Park.

He was born Sept. 13, 1924, in Kansas City, Mo., the son of John Bailey and Marjorie Hires Gage.

Mr. Gage attended William Cullen Bryant Elementary School and Southwest High School, graduating in 1941. He lettered in football, basketball, track and tennis and was named Southwest’s outstanding student-athlete.

After spending two years in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant during World War II, he graduated from Kansas University in 1947 with a degree in engineering. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.

Mr. Gage entered the fire-safety engineering field with Walton-Viking Fire Protection in Colorado Springs, Colo., after graduation. In 1952, he founded U.S. Fire Protection Engineering in Kansas City, which in 1959 became Gage-Babcock and Associates. He later founded Dyna-Jet Corp. and held numerous patents related to high-pressure water delivery systems.

He was a member of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers, Society of Fire Protection Engineers and National Fire Protection Assn., serving as president of the local chapter. He was also an officer of the Citizen’s Assn. in Kansas City and was active in the Republican Party in both Colorado and Missouri.

Upon retirement to his farm in Eudora, he became an avid horse breeder and was a member of the American Quarter Horse Assn.

Survivors include two sons, Hires W., Prairie Village, and Colin C., Kansas City, Mo.; two daughters, Betse M. Gage, Leawood, and Georganne Gage Walters, Kansas City, Mo.; and five grandchildren.

The family suggests donations to Stanford University Center for Narcolepsy, Special Olympics Kansas or United Methodist Church of Resurrection-Claire’s Project, sent in care of D.W. Newcomer’s Sons, Stine & McClure Chapel, 3235 Gillham Plaza, Kansas City, MO 64109.