Parsons, Alfred Gilbert

September 22, 1920 to September 21, 2012. Alfred ("Al") Gilbert Parsons, 91, passed away peacefully, in his Sun City West Home attended by family and friends. Al was born September 22, 1920 to Sarah Grace Alexander and Arthur Gilbert Parsons in Syracuse, New York. His 92year odyssey spanned 40% of the life of this great country and most of the modern era - a life of triumph and tumult. Hit hard by the depression, Al, then 17-years old, joined the CCC sending home $60 of his monthly $90 check. He volunteered into the Army on October 21, 1940, serving in the Canal Zone and in the Aleutians. Al received his commission September 5, 1942, completing his five years of duty in 1945. Upon his honorable discharge, Army Captain Parsons, graduated from Syracuse University, with a degree in political science, married the love of his life, Irene Agnes Martin, and took a position with General Electric in New York City. He settled into the American dream, accepting GE transfers to Atlanta and finally as GE Regional Manager in the Valley of the Sun. Al approached life with a hurried optimism and can-doanything philosophy in the wake of two World Wars. Al’s passion for travel, bridge, golf (multiple holes-in-one, member Grandview Assn. and the Gamesters Golf Club), his mountain cabin, was surpassed only by his profound love, generosity and devotion to his family. "Everything that was, is." Al was insightful, a man of keen and wry humor, and a practical and social man who worked with his hands as much as with his fine inquisitive mind. While the family stands somber in muted wonder and amazement, we do not forget our patriarch, or his zany wit and vigor. He is predeceased by his parents, four siblings, Dorothy, Ellen, Russell and Gordon, and wife, Irene. He is survived by his daughter Holly Ann, sons James and Thomas (Cristina), five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and an extended and loving family in New York, California, Florida, Ireland, Fiji, and Brazil. Al will be interned at Holy Cross Cemetery in Avondale, Arizona, October 4, 2012, at 1:00 p.m.