IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Harry Allen

Harry Allen Marlow Profile Photo

Marlow

April 14, 1918 – April 1, 2016

Obituary

Harry Allen Marlow was born on April 14, 1918 and passed away on April 1, 2016, in Lake Forest, California, just two weeks short of his 98th birthday.

Harry was the youngest of four children born to Lottie and William Marlow in Burwell, Nebraska. He had two sisters, Florence and Frances, and one brother, Stanley. His father worked as a laborer, mail carrier, and farmer. Even after a hard day's work, he loved to sing songs and tell stories to the children at bedtime.

In 1920, when Harry was only two years old, the family moved to Bell, California, right next to Lottie's sister Stella. Lottie took Harry to classes with her while she worked on her California teaching credential at UCLA. Harry loved playing with his next-door cousins Sally, Estelle, and Mary. They enjoyed card games like Flinch, Old Maid, and Authors. Outside they climbed trees and played tag and hide and seek. Harry was an avid reader and an enthusiastic Buck Rogers fan.

After losing both his parents in the 1930s, Harry moved in with his cousins so that he could attend high school. His social life revolved around family, Bell Friends Church, and Bell High School. He loved to sing, participating enthusiastically in the school glee club and chorus. After graduation, Harry delivered newspapers and worked as a Postal Telegraph messenger, a milk man, and finally a grocery clerk at Arvo's where he hoped to make manager.

But his life's path changed when a close friend, Bill Stivers persuaded him to enroll at the new Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. Harry loved learning, especially biology and history, and he ran successfully for student body president with his new friend Kenneth Hahn as his campaign manager. In October of their senior year, Harry and Kenny decided to attend an International Relations Conference at the University of Redlands, where Harry met a USC graduate student named Virginia Brewster. They soon discovered shared interests in reading, history, and travel. Then, less than 2 months later, 7 December 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. Harry enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the middle of his senior year.

He joined the 49th Fighter Squadron and was sent to Shrewsbury, England, where he trained as a cryptographer. The squadron was shipped secretly to Algeria as part of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. Soon after arriving in Algiers, Harry suffered shrapnel wound during a bombing raid on the squadron's mess hall and he was awarded the Purple Heart. On July 20, 1943, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps. He stayed in Tunisia for 6 months and then his squadron was transferred to the Southern Italian Campaign. He learned to love opera at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Once he saw three operas in one day!

When Harry came home, in 1944, he and Virginia were married and moved immediately to Champaign, Illinois where Harry served as an instructor in the Cryptographic Officers Training School at nearby Chanute Field. Their daughter Gail was born on August 6, 1945. Soon afterwards, Harry was discharged with the rank of First Lieutenant and the family moved back to Los Angeles.

Harry graduated from Pepperdine College in 1946 with a major in social science and a minor in natural science. He entered a master's program at the University of Southern California, and became research assistant to the Dean of the School of Public Administration. Soon he was appointed director of the University Civic Center Division in Los Angeles, a program which provided advanced education and training for public employees. In 1950, he received his Master of Public Administration Degree at USC. Committed to civic service as well as education, he served on the Inglewood City Council from 1950 to 1952. A son, William, was born to Harry and Virginia on October 13, 1950.

In 1954, USC was selected by the U.S. Foreign Operations Administration to establish an Institute for Administrative Affairs at the University of Teheran. As co-director of the new institute, Harry was assigned to head a team of USC professors in Teheran. The Marlows spent a total of four years in Iran where Harry led the development of a public and business administrative management program at the University of Teheran. In 1957, the Imperial Iranian Air Force presented him with the Gold Medal of Cooperation. In 1958 he was awarded the Gold Medal, Educational Supreme Order, from the Ministry of Education for services in the development of higher education in Iran.

The whole family enjoyed living in Iran and made many friends there. In the summer of 1956, after two years abroad, they converted their home leave into a trip around the world, traveling through the Middle East and Asia on their way to Los Angeles, and then back through Europe on their way to Teheran. One of the many highlights of that summer was a visit with lots of cousins to a new theme park in Anaheim called Disneyland!

In 1958 the family moved to Switzerland where Harry did post-graduate study in International Affairs at the University of Geneva. But after six years overseas, they were eager to move back to the U.S., so in 1960, Harry accepted a position as professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Once again, life offered an unexpected opportunity. In a major career shift, Harry left academia to accept the post of Chief Deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, a position he would hold from 1963 to 1987. It was an exciting time and Harry had the chance to meet many dignitaries who visited Los Angeles from all over the world. Some of the achievements in which he played a part included: Los Angeles County's freeway emergency telephone system, the Sybil Brand women's prison, Martin Luther King, Jr. /Drew Medical Center, the Los Angeles County Paramedic Program, the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, and the financing





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