While serving Seminole Baptist Temple in Springfield, Missouri he stated that “he had prayed for 3 years about giving the last productive years of his life to full-time foreign missions and found peace to do so.” He had visited Rev. K. C. Thomas many times in India and felt called to help strengthen that great work.

Bro. Fortson was called Home on June 28, 2002. He had been diagnosed with leukemia a few years prior to his death. He is survived by his 5 children, Mark, Myra, Bryon, Karen and Greg and 13 grandchildren, one grandchild having preceded him to heaven. Also surviving are one brother and four sisters. His daughter Myra and her husband Terry Unruh serve as BBFI missionaries in Sri Lanka.