JORGENSEN, Alfred (Al) W.

The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona, Sunday, November 30, 2014 Alfred W. Jorgensen died Nov. 23, 2014, at Yavapai Regional Medical Center. He was born Dec. 1, 1927, in Los Angeles, California, to Niels and Annabell (Baska) Jorgensen. He graduated from Glendale High School in 1945 and from the University of California at Berkeley in 1949 with a B.S. in process engineering and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Al also earned a Master of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California in 1967. He was called to active duty in the Army in 1951 and spent nearly two years in Korea as the commander of the 91st Engineer Water Supply Company, furnishing water to United Nations groups from Taegu in the South through Seoul and the Panmunjom Peace Camp in the North. In 1961 his Army Reserve Unit, the 916th Engineer Construction Group, was called to active duty during the Berlin Wall Crisis and he spent a year at Fort Meade, Maryland. Al retired from the Army Reserve in 1973 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Al devoted his entire career to the water industry, including operations, planning, design and construction, and management of facilities. He was a supporter and consumer of public water supplies (no bottled water!). In 1950 he was the first full-time employee of the newly formed Crescenta Valley Water District and returned to that agency after the Korean War. He later was the general manager of the Mountain Water Company of La Crescenta. He then served as Director of Utilities for the City of Monrovia from 1956 to 1967. During this time he was president of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Water Association for four years. He joined Rotary International in 1956 and was president of the Monrovia Rotary Club in 1966-1967. In 1967, Al became director of operations and planning for the international consulting firm of Engineering-Science, which involved many consulting trips to Rio de Janeiro. In 1971 he became a partner in Lowry and Associates Consulting Engineers in Orange County, California, with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Arizona. In 1986, two firms merged to form NBS/Lowry, and Al was executive vice president and chief operating officer. He retired in 1990 and moved to Prescott. During his working years, he was very active in the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and served as chairman of the California-Nevada section in 1980, and was the national director for his region from1984 to 1987. He became a member of the Southern California Water Utilities Association in the early 1950s and was instrumental in forming the Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research at the University of Southern California. Al continued from 1967 as a member of the Advisory Board of Directors of that Foundation, and the Tenth Edition of the foundation's manual was dedicated to Al. Al is survived by his wife Dorothy and was preceded in death by his wife Merry, the mother of his children. He is also survived by his son Eric (Audrey) of Chatsworth, California, and grandson Kyle; and son Kurt (Linda) of Goodyear, Arizona, and Kurt's children Charles and Rosemerry. Service are 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, corner of Copper Basin and Park Avenue, with interment and military honors at 1 p.m. at IOOF Cemetery, 500 W. Virginia, Prescott. The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made in Al's name to the Scholarship Fund for the Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research at the University of Southern California, Kaprielian Hall 200, Los Angeles, CA 90089, or to a charity of your choice. You are invited to log onto ruffnerwakelin.com to sign Al's guestbook and share a memory. Information provided by survivors.