Alfred Egan, known to friends as "Al," passed away on April 9, 2018, at the age of 89 years. He was born in Chicago on October 17, 1928, and grew up in St. Gertrude's Parish on Thome Avenue in a neighborhood that he recalled fondly all of his adult life. He was very proud of his older brother, Mike, who served with distinction in the Navy during World War II. Al hoped to follow in Mike's footsteps so he enlisted in the Navy as soon as he was old enough to do so. Thankfully, the war ended in the meantime and Al served honorably during a time of peace.
After getting out of the Navy, Al became an electrical engineer and worked for several decades designing and manufacturing transformers and power supplies for many large projects, to include military and space programs. He and his wife, Ernee, moved to Florida in 1961 with their young son, Tim, who was less than a year old at the time. They soon found a house on Druid Isle Road in Maitland which fronted beautiful Lake Charity. Al and Ernee raised two children on Druid Isle Road and lived there for over 55 years before moving into an assisted living facility in 2017. He loved Druid Isle Road and, to say the least, was very reluctant to leave.
Al enjoyed classical poetry and could easily recite from memory poems written by Robert Frost, John Keats, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling, Shakespeare, and many others. Perhaps his two favorite poems were "Gunga Din" by Rudyard Kipling and "Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson and he enjoyed reciting them with the inflection and passion that would have undoubtedly been appreciated by the authors.
Al also loved mathematics and, as an amateur mathematician, enjoyed developing (or attempting to develop) proofs for various mathematical theorems, to include his favorite – "Fermat's Last Theorem." A gifted teacher, Al was well known for tutoring high school and college students in mathematics and he enjoyed no greater satisfaction than having one of his many students pass an exam that previously seemed impossible, obtaining a superior score on the SAT, or otherwise developing an unexpected enthusiasm for mathematics.
He is survived by his wife, Ernee, two sons, Tim and Bob, two grandchildren Justin and Amanda, and his two younger brothers, Gerry and Jack Egan.
A memorial service will be held at 3:00 pm on Sunday, April 22, 2018 at DeGusipe Funeral Home, 9001 N. Orlando Avenue, Maitland, Florida 32751.
There will be a reception to follow at the same location.
Memorial donations in memory of Al can be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America at
www.alzfdn.org
.