Alvin Magnuson

Passed Away on January 25, 2014

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Alvin Magnuson passed away on Saturday, January, 25, 2014, in Mesa, Arizona. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, January 30th at 10 a.m. at Mountain View Funeral Home, Mesa, Arizona; visitation will be Wednesday, January 29th from 5 to 8 p.m.

Alvin Eugene Magnuson, son of Albert and Ella (Mills) Magnuson was born on June 28, 1930, in Graceville, Minnesota. He grew up on a farm north of Wheaton, Minnesota where he completed his elementary education in a rural one-room school. He attended high school at West Central School of Agriculture, Morris, Minnesota. He attended Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Greenville College, Greenville, Illinois. He completed his seminary training at the Lutheran Brethren Seminary, Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He earned a Master’s Degree in Special Education at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.

He married Lois Wilson of Battle Lake, Minnesota on April 7, 1963. Alvin and Lois have three sons, Eric, Harold and Douglas.

Al came to a personal assurance of salvation during his early teen years. In 1962, he accepted a call to St. James Lutheran Brethren Church, Loogootee, Illinois. Al and Lois felt God’s call to work on the Navajo Indian Reservation and moved to Arizona in July 1965. Al taught for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Lower Greasewood, Dilcon, and Many Farms Boarding Schools. He also served as interim Missionary Pastor for three years at Navajo Lutheran Church, Many Farms, Arizona.

In 1979 the Magnusons moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota where Al worked in the Aberdeen Area BIA Office as an Education Specialist in Special Education. In 1990, he returned to the parish ministry serving churches in South Dakota until 2009, when he and Lois moved to Mesa, Arizona.

Al had a dry wit and loved to laugh with family and friends. He was a farm boy at heart, always grew a garden, and never passed up an opportunity to smell fresh alfalfa. He cherished his wife Lois to whom he was happily married for 50 years. He loved to teach – math, science, reading – but mostly the Word of God. At the end, he was still teaching us how to live our lives with faith, dignity, and courage.

Alvin is survived by his wife Lois; sons and daughters-in-law, Eric, Mesa, Harold and Gena, Mesa, and Douglas and Kristen, Phoenix; grandchildren, Allysa, Jesse, Brooke, and Tyler; brother, Darrel (Carole) Magnuson of Brandon, Minnesota; mother-in-law, LaVerne Wilson, Battle Lake, Minnesota; brother-in-law, Donald Wilson (Corinne), Battle Lake, Minnesota; sisters-in-law, Loraine Rehm, Sioux City, Iowa, Alice Tamberg (Randy),Danville, California, Arlene Brenno (Neil), St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Ann Rasmussen (Reed), Aberdeen, South Dakota; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Ella Magnuson; father-in-law, Arthur Wilson; sister-in-law, Jeanette Magnuson; and brother-in-law, James Rehm.