Alan B. Magnusson, 91, died on January 14th at the Mennonite Home, Lancaster. He was the husband of the late Marjorie (Finley) Magnusson. They observed their 62nd anniversary in July 2011.
Alan was born on a farm in Henning, Minnesota, June 13, 1920, the son of the late Axel T. and Elna (Johanson) Magnusson. When he was in high school, the family moved to southern California. He graduated from Excelsior High School in Norwalk, California and Whittier College in Whittier, California. He obtained a Master’s degree in organic chemistry from the University of Southern California. After some additional graduate work at Purdue University, he returned to California where he was employed as a research chemist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. There he worked on development of polymeric binders for solid propellant rockets.
In 1961 he joined Armstrong and moved to Lancaster with his family. He worked in chemical research in the area of polymeric coatings for flooring products. He was the author or co-author of a number of papers and patents.
Alan enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, camping, and gardening. He also liked to read, work on crossword puzzles, and research family genealogy. He and his wife traveled extensively both in this country and abroad. They particularly enjoyed spending time at their cabin in Maine.
He was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster, the North Museum, The Lancaster Historical Society, and the Lancaster County Conservancy.
He is survived by a daughter, Nancy Magnusson of Ellicott City, Maryland, a son, Bruce Magnusson of Walla Walla, Washington, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife Marjorie, by an infant son David, three brothers and two sisters.
A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 140 East Orange Street, Lancaster, on Wednesday, January 18th at 2:00 P.M. The family will greet friends following the service.
Interment will be private in the Memorial Garden of First Presbyterian Church.
Memorial Contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church or to The Lancaster Conservancy, 113 S. West End Ave., Lancaster, PA, 17604.
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Dear Nancy and Bruce. I’m so sorry about the death of your father. Until I read the notice in the paper I didn’t know your mother had died so please accept my deepest sympathy for them both. I know it is hard losing both parents but you have lots of good and special memories, they were special people. I hadn’t seen them for a lot of years but will always treasure being their neighbor for a long time. Mary Ann Schappell