He was a retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel and was chief of the Conventional Munitions Division of the Strategic Air Command Inspector General Staff. Earl served in World War II and the Korean and Viet Nam wars. Initially an aviation cadet in the United States Army Air Corps, he served as a B-24 liberator bomber airplane commander in England with the 8th Air Force. His career included many command capacities; pilot, communications, munitions, squadron and inspections.

After his military career, Earl was a Boeing Co. Nuclear Safety Research Analyst working on weapon release systems, including air-launched cruise missiles for B-52, B-1 and B-2 Stealth bombers.

His first wife, Loise Elaine Strickland, died in 1991, and seven brothers and six sisters precede him. He married Joycelin Brown Mansfield on Oct 17, 1992. Survivors include his wife; son, Joseph Benjamin Furnace III, of Wichita; daughter, Calvina Rae Connell, of Granbury, Texas; granddaughter, Shauna Lisa Briley, of Granbury; and stepsons, Carson Mansfield, of Salina and Kyle Mansfield, of Los Angeles.

Visitation will be from noon until 8 p.m. today at Ryan Mortuary, The family will receive friends from 6 to 7 p.m. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at First Presbyterian Church, Salina. Memorials are suggested to First Presbyterian Church, Salina, or Kaye Pogue Hospice, of Salina.