Obituary

Alvin Vernon Pike

Please visit Al’s memorial slideshow at https://www.life-tomotion.com/alvin-pike

Alvin Vernon Pike was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma on April 24, 1929, to Carrie Estes Gentry and Jesse Claude Pike. He was followed by four sisters: Joyce, Lois, Wanda and Leta. A brother, Austin, died in infancy.

 The Pike family moved to several locations throughout Al’s childhood, as Jesse pursued employment, mostly working for railroads and for a brief period, owning and working a farm. At various times, the Pike family also lived in California, Nevada and Utah.

For a time, the family lived in Vacaville California while Jesse worked at a Naval shipyard. That town must have made a distinct impression on Al, because when he was in his teens, after the family moved to yet another location, he forged out on his own and took up residence in Vacaville once again.

 It is difficult at times to separate the fiction from the facts based on varied family memories and Al’s own recounting of his life adventures.  As he told the story, his school friend Robert Compardon’s father ran a “French laundry” in Vacaville and allowed Al to live with the family, as he attended school, in exchange for him working part-time in the laundry. “I slept upstairs in a little room above that had a drip-drip-drip from the ceiling to my bed,” he recounted. Each re-telling tended to exaggerate the tale, until he made it sound like he survived the famed sewer system of “Les Miserables.”

Dad then moved to Los Angeles and finished his secondary schooling at Los Angeles Metropolitan High School.  He entered the fine family tradition of working for the railroad industry, living with his Aunt Minnie and Uncle Cliff Pike, who were sister and brother of his mother and father. When all those railroad men gathered on, the train tales they would tell!

Next, Al was stationed in Germany while serving a few years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Amongst other duties, he skillfully played saxophone in the 4^th Infantry Division Band.

By 1952 Al was stateside. One fateful night in 1953, at age 24, he walked into a dance held in the basement of the Congregational Church of Los Angeles. He was quite a “looker” those days: his slender build, thick shock of dark hair, and a rakish cleft in his chin attracted stream of female admirers. But that enchanted evening, he only had eyes for Marjorie, a petite, vivacious brunette with a twinkle in her eye. She mesmerized him with her graceful dance moves, shy charm,  and her ability to sprechen auf Deutsch with him. They were married soon after, and their great love story lasted 65 years.

Dad completed a few semesters at Los Angeles City College, and then launched into a civil engineering career, working at such respected firms as Braun, Bechtel, and Occidental Petroleum. The couple had their son Jonathan, and two years later, daughter Lori. They built a life in Los Angeles and then Alhambra and San Gabriel. In the mid-‘60s, he embarked on a 6-month engineering stint in Iran.

When Al was employed by Fluor Corporation, the Pike family made the big move to Irvine, where he purchased a house on a little hill and customized it (despite what the homeowners’ association guidelines may have permitted at the time!) by planting queen palms around it and installing noble lion statues  near the entrance. The house remained his proud manse for almost 50 years.

If mom was the nurturing sweetheart of the family, Dad was the visionary dreamer and artistic designer.  He remodeled and added on to their first family house in San Gabriel, mostly by himself, and planted frequently rotating lawns and gardens, including rows of corn and sunflowers in the front yard.  His hobbies included oil painting, photography, and crafting wire jewelry and stained-glass. After he took three of his sisters on a memorable Golden State road-trip, he spent hours on his computer long before easy-design software was available to meticulously craft the page-layout in lovely photo albums for Wanda, Leta and Lois.

Like Francis of Assisi, Al had a knack for loving nature and attracting animals, using crow calls to woo and “talk” to the birds, and taking special pleasure in spoiling Lori’s and husband David’s Swiss Mountain dogs when they came to visit.

An inveterate lover of music, Dad often sang for anyone in earshot. He loved to whip out one of his harmonicas to regale anyone from out-of-town visitors to his beloved miniature Schnauzer, Schatzi, with classic tunes from “This Land is Your Land” to “There’s No Place Like Home” to German drinking songs.  Dad eventually became obsessed with PBS mainstay, orchestra conductor Andre′ Rieu and his ballroom-gown-and-white-tie-and-tails-clad Johann Strauss Orchestra.  In his 90s, Al fulfilled a dream by accompanying his family to see his musical hero’s ensemble perform live at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It was a most memorable evening.

Dad and Mom made the most of their retirement years by travelling to Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest, Florida, and sundry other destinations.

When Marjorie’s mother suffered a disabling stroke, Mom moved her into Lori’s former room, and Dad provided constant cooking and support to help tenderly care for her for some eight years.

We are fortunate Mom remained in relatively good health till the end, nurtured still by Dad’s cooking, trademark stories and playful sense of humor. It somehow made sense she would be the first to go, so that Dad could accompany her to her very last minute. When she passed away in 2019 at age 94, he quietly and bravely soldiered on, not succumbing to widower grief, staying curious about the world.

As dad slowed a bit, we were grateful for the various in-home caretakers that helped him keep his independence. In April, when he needed a bit more assistance, he moved to a board and care home nearby with devoted staff, whom he entertained with his stories, wit and charm.  He enjoyed singing and playing harmonica with the visiting music therapist, flexed his muscles weekly with the physical therapist, and continued to revel in Andre’s waltzes and Western shows on the TV—especially those featuring horses. But he always longed to return to his own beloved Irvine house on the hill.

Dad died peacefully in the board and care the evening of October 19, 2024. He is survived by son Jonathan (Marcia), daughter Lori Uebersax (David), and sister Leta Sutton.

Memorial Service will be on November 13, 2024 at 10:00am at O’Connor Mortuary in Laguna Hills.  Service can also be view online at https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/index.php?data=MTczMDg1Mzg1MjMzNTY4NSZvbmVyb29tLWFkbWluJmNvcHlfbGluaw==

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA, a magical place for railroad aficionados like Alvin Pike.
https://socalrailway.networkforgood.com/projects/184828-general-donations

As he was ever the adventurer and always yearning for something more, we pray Alvin’s sojourner soul has finally found its rest in God. We trust that in this very moment he is experiencing a great depth of grace, joy, and recognition of his true calling, and that he is announcing, in the words of C.S. Lewis, with the wisdom of that great Holy Lion Aslan:

“I have come Home at last!
This at last is my Real Country!
I belong here.
This is the land I have been looking for all my life,
Though I never knew it till now,
[It is] time to Come Further Up,
And Further In!”