Alan Erwin Lee

Alan Erwin Lee, 92, peacefully passed away at 2:15 p.m. March 7, 2011, in the Asbury Park Nursing Home in Newton, after suffering a stroke. 

Alan was born on Sept. 2, 1918, in Kingston, N.Y., to Dr. Ernest K. and Violet Mabel Lee. He was one of three children, with a brother, Norman, and sister, Alberta. He grew up in nearby Beacon, N.Y., where his father was a dentist. 

He graduated from Beacon High School, and he attended Tri-State College in Angola Indiana, where he studied engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science degree. 

After graduation in 1940, he worked as an aeronautical engineer for the Culver Aircraft Company, originally in Columbus, Ohio, which re-located to Wichita. In 1942, he went to work at Stearman Aircraft Co., a subsidiary of the Boeing Aircraft Co. He stayed on as a Boeing employee, specializing in wing design, until he retired in 1977. During World War II, he worked at Boeing under the auspices of the Air Force and the Defense Department. 

On Dec. 5, 1941, he married Helen Marie Wiley of Wichita, and they had two children, Carole Jeanne and James Alan. 

As a young man growing up on the Hudson River, Alan loved to fish and sail. He built sailboats and iceboats, and his interest in boats and ships continued throughout his life. He felt at home with anything mechanical, and he spent endless hours maintaining and overhauling cars, lawnmower engines and outboard boat motors. Alan loved the precision engineering of imported automobiles, and he owned a succession of European cars throughout the years, long before most people had ever heard of Saab, MG or BMW. 

He was a long-time member of the Wichita East Side Lions Club and College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita. 

Alan Lee is survived by his daughter, Carole Jeanne Malin and husband, Ralph of Newton; his son, James Alan Lee and wife, Rebecca of Glastonbury, Conn.; his grandchildren, Bryan James Malin and wife, June of Tulsa, Okla., Brenton John Malin and wife, Jessie of Pittsburgh, Pa., Jennifer Sohn Lee of Boston, and Kathryn Elizabeth Lee of Glastonbury, Conn.; his great-grandson, Mason Beckett Malin of Pittsburgh, Pa.; his sister, Alberta E. Feynman of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; his niece, Carrie Rickard of Ridgewood, N.J.; and his nephew, James Feynman of Long Island, N.Y. 

The family would like to express their appreciation to Denise Green and the staff and administration at Asbury Park in Newton and to Carole Schoonover and the staff and administration at Comfort Care Homes in Wichita for the excellent care our parents received. Also, a special thanks to Jeanne Sommerfeld of Harry Hynes Hospice for her invaluable assistance with our dad's passing. 

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Heights United Methodist Church, 12th and Boyd streets in Newton. Inurnment will follow at Greenwood Cemetery in Newton. 

Memorials are encouraged to a charity of your choice and may be sent to Broadway Colonial Funeral Home, 120 E. Broadway, Newton, KS 67114. 

Condolences may be left at www.broadwaycolonialfh.com.