Allen L. Means

Allen L. "Al" Means, of Quarryville, formerly of Strasburg, passed away on Sunday, December 29, 2024, on his 76th birthday, after a six-year battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). He was the beloved husband of Patricia McDivitt Means, with whom he shared 36 wonderful and adventurous years of marriage.
Born in Gordonville, he was the son of the late Paul D., Sr. and Ruth A. (Buzzard) Means.
Allen was a graduate of Pequea Valley High School, class of 1966. Following high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and proudly served his country from 1966-1969 as an 81mm Mortar Crewman and fought in the Tet Offense near Da Nang, Vietnam.
Before his honorable discharge, Al attained the rank of Sergeant and earned the following honors: Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, Merit Unit Citation, National Defense Service, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Gallant Cross Unit, Vietnam Campaign, United States Marine Corps Commemorative, USMC Good Conduct, Rifle Sharpshooter, and Guadalcanal patch.
Following the military, Al played semi-pro soccer for a short time. He then went on to be employed by Sperry New Holland as a Shear Operator, retiring with 34 years of service.
In his spare time, Al enjoyed competitive trap shoots, hunting, and riding his white Appaloosa stallion, "Windy." Al and Patti enjoyed riding their horses and providing carriage wedding rides with their draft horse "Duke" in their cherry red wagon. Having a farmette, Al baled their own hay for their horses and built a hydroponic greenhouse to grow delicious tomatoes. Al took great pride and lovingly care developing and maintaining their orchard of apples, peaches, and Asian pears which he shared with everyone. Al and Patti enjoyed many vacation excursions to British Columbia, Paris, and Vietnam, but always felt that there was no place like home. Al was a member of the New Holland American Legion and New Providence Baptist Church in Quarryville.
Above all else, Al's legacy is the 30-plus years of volunteer work he and Patti did with their man-trailing Bloodhounds. In 1989, they founded the Red Rose K-9 S.A.R. Team, a 501c (3) volunteer non-profit organization. Their mission was helping to locate lost or missing people and assist law enforcement in various criminal cases with the use of their Bloodhounds. They devoted countless hours to training their canine partners, attending training seminars throughout the country, instructed at various seminars, and mentored Bloodhound handlers they met through the trainings they offered locally. Long-time members of the American Bloodhound Club, Al and Patti became certified as national trailing trial judges for the breed and evaluated handler and hound teams at various levels of achievement.
Together, Al and Patti trained 12 Bloodhounds and provided hundreds of educational basic survival programs and demonstrations to school children, scouts, church groups, retirement communities, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and civic groups. Make-A-Wish was an annual event they looked forward to each year for the children to interact with the Bloodhounds as well as Camp Cadet, offered by the Pennsylvania State Police.
Al and his canine partner of 12 years, "Heather", honorably received a life-saving award for locating a young man who was highly intoxicated and experiencing a drug overdose. He once testified at a death penalty case for the work that Heather did which provided a significant piece of evidence that resulted in a conviction. Al also testified in federal court in Philadelphia on the findings of his Bloodhound "Hannah" for a murder case they worked together, but he would say that the most infamous and memorable case was tracking the notorious criminal "Norman Johnston" that led the way to his capture in August 1999. As Heather retired, both Al and Heather became a certified therapy team with Caring Hearts Pet Therapy and visited the residents of the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his siblings, Thea Althouse of Leola, Paul (Wendy) Means, Jr. of Gordonville, Michael (Lori) Means of New Holland, a niece Dana Althouse Yoder of Leola, a great niece Olivia Yoder of Leola, and many other family members. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife Mary Zook Means, son Gregory Means, a sister Sandy Means Hoffmeier, and brother-in-law George Althouse.
Services and interment will be private.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Al's memory for the construction of a fellowship hall at his church, New Providence Baptist Church, 2411 Beaver Valley Pike, New Providence, PA 17560. Please make checks payable to New Providence Baptist Church and write "Building Fund" on the memo line.
To leave an online condolence, please visit www.dewalds.com.