Alvin was born in a small house in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, youngest son of John Sapp and Carrie Marshall Sapp. When he was about 11 years old, his widowed mother moved with her two youngest sons to Washington D.C. where he played on the Capitol steps and delivered newspapers to the Roosevelt White house. On the Fourth of July, 1944 he met the love of his life, Ruth McGolerick, and married her before the year was out. This past December 10 they celebrated 66 years of marriage.
Through the War years, Alvin worked as a machinist making heavy guns for the Navy, then in 1950 went to the Naval Research Laboratory where he made parts for the Vanguard satellite which remains (and will for the next 200 years) the longest orbiting man-made object.
In 1963 the National Bureau of Standards moved Alvin and his young family to Boulder where he continued his career as a talented Instrument Maker, eventually working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Colorado, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research from which he retired in 1987, but continued part time into the 1990's.
In later years, Alvin and Ruth traveled to numerous places within the United States and abroad. Home was his favorite place, however, where he enjoyed his garden, his Bible, his guitar and harmonicas, and his easy chair.
He is the last of his four siblings to leave us, and will be greatly missed by all who knew his loving, tender, and forgiving spirit.
He is survived by his loving wife Ruth, his daughter Jane and husband Andrew Poole, his son Joe and wife Cle Ella (Mattox), his son John and wife Janie (Blair), and his son Jim and wife Sue (Carter), along with 18 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren who look forward to seeing him again at the end of their days.
Arrangements under the direction of Crist Mortuary, Boulder, CO.
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