Alfred Hougham Mikesell

Alfred Hougham

Mikesell

1914-2008

Alfred Hougham Mikesell, 94, died quietly at home on June 25, 2008, with family at his side.

Alfred was born in San Diego on January 28, 1914. His father, an Ohio farm boy, homesteaded in the West before becoming professor of business at Fresno State College and a real estate developer. His mother was, he wrote, "the Kansas daughter of a highly religious school teacher of strong suffrage and prohibition convictions. [My] life was defined by that background and a century of two world wars, a great depression, and the greatest sum of technical developments for a single lifetime of any age in the history of the earth." From his maternal grandfather he felt he "inherited a keen appreciation of both science and technology and of the religious response to these by fellow humans."

Al received a BA in astronomy from University of California, and worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. for 34 years. He helped design and use large telescopes and researched stars, asteroids and solar eclipses. His research interests led to an open gondola balloon flight 8 miles high, and an eclipse expedition to the Sahara Desert.

In 1937 he married Mary Hill, a fellow astronomy student. They had eight children, including 3 sets of twins. They divorced in 1971. The final third of his life was enriched by his marriage to Marjorie Dean Risley, a Quaker.

Al was a voracious reader. His interests were eclectic-science, philosophy and religion, history and politics, literature, photography and anything mechanical. He helped design and build a home for his family of ten, and he could be heard whistling as he tinkered with cars and radios, put in skylights and worked on various household construction projects. He and a friend built a 24' sloop, and he sailed extensively with his children and second wife. He inherited 160 acres of conifer forest near Creswell, Oregon which he and his wife Marjorie turned into a family tree farm. He loved sharing all his interests with his family.

As a young adult Al became a Quaker, and remained active for the rest of his life in the Washington, D.C., Tucson, Olympia and Eugene Friends' Meetings. Quakerism, with its concept of the presence of God in every person and dedication to nonviolence fit him. His experience with the Quaker unprogrammed meetings for worship along with his cosmic perspective of astronomy shaped his most deeply held beliefs.

Alfred is survived by his wife Marjorie, eight children, two stepchildren, grand and great-grandchildren. His body was interred, in the presence of family and close friends, on the family tree farm.

His life will be celebrated at a memorial service at the Eugene Friends Meeting (2274 Onyx St.) on Friday, July 25th at 2 p.m.

Please sign the guest book at www.registerguard.com/legacy