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Obituary

Al, 91, died February 14, 2015, in Lakewood, Colorado. He served with the CPS-103 smokejumpers in Missoula during the 1945 season. Al graduated from Earlham College in 1949 and Yale Divinity School in 1952. Al served Congregational churches in North Dakota, where he flew between five churches every Sunday, and Minnesota. Moving to Colorado in 1967, he worked for the Federal War on Poverty until 1970. An additional note from his daughter Carol: "Dad served a year with the Smokejumpers out of Missoula, Montana, before returning to college and becoming ordained. Although many people considered much of the way he went through life as different from the ordinary, this particular experience was probably the highlight of his life, next to his marriage to Margaret Tollefson. It led to his acquisition of a Piper Cub and service as a flying pastor of five little churches in North Dakota in the 1950's and culminated in his ownership of an ultralight plane and home landing strip when he was unable to obtain a regular pilot's license in his 70's and 80's. "He celebrated his 90th birthday by jumping from a plane (tandem with a professional). He admitted to not particularly caring for the long 'free fall' but was once again thrilled by the parachute, despite a growing wind from an approaching storm."

Identifier

Inglis_Alan-O_Missoula_1945

Publication Date

March 2015

Keywords

Smokejumping; Smokejumpers -- United States; National Smokejumper Association; Wildfire fighters; Obituaries

Disciplines

Forest Management

Smokejumper Obituary: Inglis, Alan O. (Missoula 1945)

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