Obituary of Alvin Earl Boese

Alvin passed away peacefully Monday evening, October 21, 2019, in Oregon City, at the age of 91. He was born in Portland, Oregon, on April 8, 1928, to Frank and Mildred Boese. Always a true Oregonian, he spent his early years in the Portland, Scholls, Milton-Freewater, and Oceanside areas. He graduated from Tillamook High School in 1946. During his later teen years, he worked as an aircraft preservation mechanic at the Tillamook Naval Air Station. While there, he met Lois (Atwood) Boese who was vacationing in Oceanside. Thus began a long-distance relationship by mail and the occasional visit to her home in Canby. They were separated further when he was drafted into the Army serving with Headquarters Company, 1 st Battalion, 180 th Infantry Regiment of the 45 th Infantry Division from October, 1950, to August, 1952, at Camp Polk, Louisiana, Korea, and Hokkaido, Japan. Years later, he wrote an autobiography of his Army experience. Upon returning from the Korean War, Alvin married Lois in her home town at the Canby Methodist Church on August 22, 1952. He then began a life-long career with the Portland Public Works eventually retiring in 1984. Lois was to remain the love of his life from their teen years to her death in 2012. Together, they made a stable, happy home for their two daughters remaining faithfully married for 60 years until Lois’s passing in 2012. They spent the bulk of their lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, moving there from Portland in 1969. His children remember many camping and road adventures while growing up. As well, Alvin was an avid and successful hunter and fisherman. He loved hunting with family in the Tollgate area in NE Oregon. Many years they camped in the snow. He rarely returned home without a deer, elk, or even a bear one time. He could spend all day out fishing on the Clackamas River, Wallowa Lake, eastern Oregon reservoirs, and British Columbia. He would gather kelp worms along the Oceanside rocks and shore fish for perch as well as fish from the Tillamook jetty for salmon and ling cod. He kept an immaculate park-like setting in his backyard, which served as a wedding venue for Kathy, his youngest daughter. Alvin was creative and thrifty building a large, beautiful patio and sidewalk from a combination of newly mixed cement and old concrete fragments from Portland area demolition sites. Alvin and Lois converted their garage into a party room filled with Swiss souvenirs, hunting trophies, and even a miniature Swiss village that he had built. It was here that his oldest daughter, Sharon, was married. Many family evenings were spent in that room listening to his favorite polka or country songs complete with yodeling, and even a bagpipe or two. The gatherings around the pool table were made livelier with a good Hefeweizen or Riesling with family and friends. He loved to yodel (in private) but could play a tape of his yodeling for others to hear. Alvin, also, enjoyed preparing breakfast making his famous French Pancakes. He was an accomplished grill master for family barbeques. He and Lois traveled frequently around the United States and abroad to Europe, Canada, and Hawaii. His favorite country, by far, was Switzerland where they made three separate visits. After his retirement from the City of Portland in 1984, Alvin began crafting some 33 Swiss clocks from scratch. They covered the walls and flat surfaces around the house and the houses of family and friends. These were ornate, functioning clocks made from spare wood including such things as popsicle sticks. He hand painted all his creations. After moving into The Springs at Clackamas Woods in Clackamas in 2013, he held tours for the residents to view his handiwork. Alvin is survived by his two daughters, Sharon Boese, of Columbia City, Oregon, and Kathy Hughson, of Oregon City, Oregon, along with her husband, Daniel Hughson. He is also survived by his past son-in-law and best friend, Charles (Butch) Brockway of Tigard, Oregon. He is further survived by his grandchildren as follows: Sarah Carrico (Benjamin), Emily Shroll (Scott), Andy Brockway, Jason Hughson (Megan), Mathew Hughson (Phoebe), and Kelsey House (Michael), as well as 11 great grandchildren as follows: Maxwell Carrico, Ellika Carrico, Blake Brockway, Brendan Shroll, Wren Hughson, Angus Hughson, Fern Hughson, Atlas Hughson, Oliver House, Henry House, and Lucas House. He was preceded in death by his wife Lois, sister Evelyn Dostal, and brother Daniel Boese. Alvin will be interred with military honors alongside his wife, Lois, at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Oregon, on November 11, at 10:00am.