Alan Oksen

ALAN OKSEN
FEBRUARY 25, 1947 - MARCH 11, 2015
 March 11, 2015, Alan Oksen had an unexpected heart attack and passed away at home.
 February 25, 1947 Alan Lester Oksen was born in Covina, California.  He was raised in Visalia, California by his mother Ruth Elizabeth Woods Oksen, a teacher of Latin, Spanish, and languages.  For an exchange teaching position, Alan and his mother lived on Oahu.  Alan's Uncle Dusty Woods from Oregon was stationed there and survived Pearl Harbor in WWII.  Alan and his mother returned to their home in Visalia, where he worked in a bicycle shop, enjoyed swimming, played tennis, restored a British car, and became an Eagle Scout.  Alan graduated from Mt. Whitney High School in 1964, and recently attended his fiftieth reunion. 
  Alan attended College of the Sequoias and graduated in 1966.  As a Theatre student, he had major roles in "Carousel" and "Camelot." He then transferred to San Francisco State University, and graduated in 1968.  As a Senior he played Dionysis in "The Bacchae" by Euripides, a four hour long  ancient Greek tragedy/rock opera, with original live music, the first of it's type, and it was given national publicity.  In San Francisco in 1969, Alan married his college sweetheart, Leslie Jay Payne Oksen, formerly of Turlock.  They have been married 46 years, and have two sons, Ian Oksen, a Humboldt State graduate, and Andrew Oksen, a San Francisco State graduate.
  Alan worked for Stanislaus County ten years, and for Oakdale High School thirty years.  He taught Theatre, and English, and served as Arts Department Chair, and Chairman of the English Dept. at different times.  He directed plays often with 2-4 casts, so everyone could participate.  Plays were from ancient to modern times, comedy, tragedy, and musicals.  For over twenty years he took Drama students to the Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and to productions in San Francisco; he organized trips to take hundreds of English students to ACT's "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, after they read the novel.  Alan created a black-box theatre-in-the-round from a classroom and a portion of the library, and then designed and used the theatre at OHS that exists today.  Students learned acting, lighting, set construction, costume, make-up, choreography, house management and all aspects of technical theatre, in a hands-on way.  In the 1980's Alan coached the OHS girls and boys tennis teams to their first championships.
   Alan was a member of The National Ski Patrol for ten years.  He enjoyed restoring Triumph motorcycles, and sports cars, from the 60's and 70's.  He loved his dogs, horses, working on his small ranch, and cabin in the Sierras.  He is survived by his wife and sons.
   A celebration of his life will be held in the Oakdale High School Theatre, Sunday, March 29, at 2:00 pm.  Friends are welcome.
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