Allan Deal (1950)

Allan was born in Eugene, Oregon but his family moved to Longview when he was just a toddler.  He grew up in the Kelso school district.  In the fifth grade he started playing a clarinet in the Catlin grade school band.  When it came time for him to enter high school Allan talked his parents into letting him transfer to R.A. Long.  He didn’t want to have to follow his two sisters footsteps at Kelso High School.  At R.A. Long Allan traded his clarinet in for an oboe, after 4 years of playing in the band at R.A. Long and received a modest scholarship to Willamette University to study music.  He was allowed to take engineering courses at Willamette then transferred to Carnegie tech the last two years for a degree in Architectural Engineering.  Upon graduation in 1954 he enlisted in the in the Army for 2 years.  After completing his military duty Allan decided     continue his education in Architectural Engineering, at UC Berkley.  While getting his one year residency, he was able to get a position with Bethlehem Steel Co. as a structural steel detailer.  During one semester Allan’s class was given the problem to design a “Tension Structure”, his design was chosen to be built on campus.  He was called by the San Francisco Arts Festival and asked to reconstruct the structure in an empty field at Fisherman’s Wharf for their Festival.  He went to work for a firm in San Francisco.  Allan then made a trip to Europe in hopes of visiting some of the Historical Architecture he had studied.  He found work with a firm in Sweden.  After a few months Allan decided it was time to head home, he arrived in San Francisco and got a job with John Carl Warnecke and Associates.  He had the opportunity to work on such projects as the new College of San Mateo Campus, and the new undergraduate library at Stanford University.  After a lengthy honeymoon in Europe in 1963 with his new bride Jennifer, Allan once again arrived back in San Francisco.  He went to work for Walt Lucas Architect but soon that job ended, his next job was with MacKinley, Winnacker and Associates (MWA) and he stayed with this firm for 22 years.  Three years later Allan did a transfer to the Guam office.  The Architectural Firm’s presence on Guam led to commission on other island in the Micronesia.  Such as the island of Yap, they designed the Yap Hospital.  He aided in the design of the Micronesian Institute, a Marine Biology Center.  Allan decided to renew the one year contract several time over and designed a permanent home for his family.  The home in Talofofo, Guam was the winner of an Award of Excellence in Architecture Guam and Trust Territory Chapter, American Institute of Architects.  After ten years in Guam he decided to return to the states so his children could go to high school there.  After returning to the states Allan designed several homes one of the last being his retirement home in Benicia which he completed in 2004.  When Allan turned eighty he decided write an autobiography of his life of adventures for his children and 6 grandchildren.  Allan passed away January 2015 of Pulmonary Fibrosis.