May 28, 2020

Allen D. Marsh

Posted May 28, 2020 12:58 PM
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ALLEN D. MARSH, 1943 - 2020

Allen D. Marsh, Major, USAF-retired, passed away on May 13, 2020, surrounded by the love and prayers of his family and friends. 

Born in Emporia Kansas, May 17, 1943, and moving to Great Bend in 1946, Allen was the first son of Roger and Agnes Marsh. He was a member of the Baker Avenue Baptist Church and a 1961 graduate of GBHS, where he excelled scholastically, served as drum major for the marching band, performed in The Mikado and HMS Pinafore operettas, and played bugle in the Argonne Rebels Drum and Bugle Corps.  After graduation, he attended the University of Kansas where he played trombone in the KU Marching Band.  In 1963, he left college to enlist in the United States Air Force.  Based upon aptitude testing, USAF sent him to Yale University to learn Mandarin Chinese; then, he served with the 6987th Security Group at Shu Lin Kou, Taiwan, as a voice processing specialist.  In Taiwan, he married Hsu Yu Chen “Jeanie”.  His next assignment was to the 381st Strategic Missile Wing, McConnell AFB. Then, the USAF selected him into the highly desirable Airmen’s Education and Commissioning Program, through which he earned a baccalaureate degree in mathematics from Colorado State University in 1968, resulting in commissioning as a Second Lieutenant.  Next, the USAF sent him to Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, where he earned a masters degree in information science.  He ultimately earned a military retirement after a career as a senior systems software engineer and hardware designer for US Air Forces Europe in Wiesbaden, Germany; the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Texas; the US Logistics Group in Adana, Turkey; and, Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California.  After retirement, he continued in trade, with employment in multiple systems, logistics, banking and aerospace corporations throughout California, moving to Sacramento in 1990.

One son-in-law, Robert Sharon of Sacramento. predeceased him.  Marsh married Nancy Hullin in 1989; she survives.  He will also be missed by loving daughters, Jennifer Sharon of Sacramento, Elise of Washington, DC, and Addie of San Francisco, California; three grandchildren, Zach, Ava and Blake Sharon.  He leaves three brothers Dale and wife Phyllis, of Great Bend; Richard and wife PilSun, of Florence, Arizona, and Robert, and wife Norma, of Mesa, Arizona.

The family will hold a limited, private service; following the COVID-19 resolution, a formal military honors ceremony will be held (TBD) at the Sacramento National Military Cemetery.