The man who replaced Percival P. Baxter as Senate President was born in Portland, Maine on February 15, 1874.
Educated in Portland schools, he graduated from Colby College in 1898.
While teaching school he studied law in the office of Symonds, Cook & Hutchinson and was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1900.
Always interested in politics, Gurney represented Portland in the Maine House of Representatives in 1916 and was elected to the State Senate for the 1919-1920 term.
Reelected in 1920 he was elected President of the Senate when Baxter became Governor on the death of Governor Parkhurst.
In October of 1921, Baxter, as Governor, appointed Gurney Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission and he served one term before returning to private law practice.
Gurney died on December 30, 1945 at the age of seventy-one.