In Memory of Allen S. Hobson

Presented at the memorial service March 20, 2012
The Presbyterian Church at New Providence

I’m Gary Murakami and I would like to testify to the person of Allen Hobson, a blessing from God to us.

Allen, Daisy, and I are long-time members of our Sunday School class titled “Streams” which explores how many wonderful traditions are woven into the fabric, tapestry, and heritage of the church. Al was a full participant and active member, often quoting scripture and sharing testimony in his unique, crotchety, and sometimes dour manner. Fortunately this was often relieved by his good sense of humor and great smile.

His favorite passages were from the book of John, especially John 3:16. He would recite fervently from chapter 3,

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

I already miss his humor, and even his unique manner. I miss being able to reach over to Al, poke him, and call him “buddy.” But Al’s heritage lives on. His faithfulness and fervor are woven into the fabric and tapestry of my life and into the lives of all of us who were privileged to know him. While Al is no longer here in the flesh, he was born of the Spirit through his belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Al is in heaven with him, and when I see Al again, he’ll quote yet again, this time with great joy,

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

And we’ll respond yet again,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We’ll smile together and say,

“Look, here’s Jesus.

See, we’re born again into everlasting life!

We believe!”

In Memory of Lee E. McMahon

December 19, 2011 at 9:29pm

At ManorCare in New Providence, my father-in-law Arne Swenson sits with Gertrude and Helen for meals. I eventually found that Helen's last name is McMahon, and being a Bear's fan, I mentioned Jim McMahon of Chicago Bears and Superbowl Shuffle fame. Helen told me that her husband's name was Lee, and I told her that I had a coworker at Bell Labs named Lee McMahon. I found a photo via Google images, and she said "That's him!"

I worked with Lee McMahon and Bill Marshall on Datakit, a computer network invented by Sandy Fraser in Computer Science Research at Bell Labs Murray Hill. In my mind, I can still picture Lee and Bill in the "Wurlitzer" room which was adjacent to the Unix room in building 2, fifth floor. It was called the Wurlitzer room because the layers of consoles for the Datakit switches resembled a massive organ. Lee and Bill stood at the center of it all.

I can still picture Lee standing in my office doorway to chat about work. He was a chain smoker and would tap ashes into the door latch hole. When I poked him about it he said that there was no problem since the door jamb and walls were all steel. I still wondered at the surprise of a column of ashes for workers doing any remodeling. Lee got throat cancer and a laryngectomy. He returned to work after treatment, and I remember the shock and sympathetic pain that I felt for him as he struggled to speak. We resorted to communicating via pen and paper. Looking back, I can see the interest and effort that he took to encourage me professionally and personally - what a great guy!

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Lee E. McMahon
Public Figure

Description

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lee E. McMahon (1931–1989) was an American computer scientist. He was a graduate of St. Louis University and obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology at Harvard. He worked for Bell labs from 1963 until 1989, and is best known for his contributions to early versions of the Unix operating system, in particular the sed stream editor. He contributed to the development of comm, qsort, grep, index, cref, cu, and Datakit. He also devised the McMahon system tournament.

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