- Date Of Birth: March 28, 1925
- Date Of Death: April 24, 2019
- State: Michigan
Roy Leonard VanAlsten, age 94 of West Chester, Ohio, passed away on Wednesday April 24, 2019 in Ohio
He loved his family, his country and his hometown, in that order.
Roy was born in Oneida, New York, March 28, 1925. That city adjoined Sherrill, New York where he grew up and where his parents, J. Roy Parmer VanAlsten and Margaret Jennie (Brown) VanAlsten, were employed by the Oneida Community Silver Company.
He attended the local schools and graduated from Sherrill High School in June 1943. Five days later he was a private in the U.S. Army. He had infantry training at various posts in the U.S., had a brief term at the City College of New York in the Army Specialized Training Program, then shipped overseas as a replacement. He landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy about three weeks after D-Day.
For the next year, he moved through France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany, walking and fighting and sleeping in foxholes. He was at the Elbe River, west of Berlin, when the war ended. Meanwhile, he had earned two Purple Hearts. He spent another year in occupation duty at the famed Rosenthal Potteries in Selb, Bavaria and returned to the U.S. in March 1946, still before his 21st birthday. He was honorably discharged as a first sergeant.
He enrolled at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He was among the hundreds of GI’s taking advantage of the GI Bill. He graduated in 1950 as a ceramic engineer. Working first for the McDanel Refractory Porcelain Co. in Beaver Falls, PA, then for the Ford Motor Company Scientific Laboratory, Dearborn, MI, he made high temperature materials his specialty. He developed several patents, along with his colleagues, and earned three “Innovation” awards from Ford. Among his projects was ceramic components for a gas turbine engine under a NASA contract. He retired from Ford in 1987 after 35 years of service. His other accomplishments include bowling a 300 game in 1973.
While living in the Dearborn area, he was a strong supporter of the Redford Township Junior Athletic Association and the various teams on which his children played, as well as Thurston High School academic and athletic programs. He was a member of Evergreen Village Presbyterian Church.
In retirement, Roy and his wife Mary were active volunteers at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, and after moving to Midland in 1995, at the Midland Center for the Arts and the community food pantry network. They were members of the Memorial Presbyterian Church. They enjoyed 22 winters at Siesta Key, FL.
Roy was married for 63 years to the former Mary Forrest of Greene, New York, who predeceased him in 2013. Together they raised three children, William VanAlsten (Holly Cassidy), West Chester, OH; Janet VanAlsten (Dr. Robert Dion), Charlevoix and Thousand Oaks, CA; and Dr. John G. VanAlsten (Pam Helinek), Framingham, MA. Their nine grandchildren are Andrew VanAlsten, Baltimore, MD; Dr. Laura VanAlsten, La Jolla, CA; Abigail and Kenna Cassidy, West Chester, OH; Dr. Christopher Dion, Clinton Twp.; Elisabeth Dion, East Lansing; Dr. Stephanie VanAlsten, Kalamazoo; William Craig VanAlsten, W. Hartford, CT; and Sarah VanAlsten, University City, MO..
