SEFTON, Alan 1924-1999

SEFTON, WILSON, DE HAAN

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 11/13/2010 at 17:00:13

ALAN SEFTON

CHARLES CITY, IOWA - Alan Sefton, 75, of the Chatauqua Guest Home in Charles City, formerly of Manly, died Sept. 26 (1999) at the home.

Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bride Colonial Chapel, 110 East Spring St., Manly. Burial will be in the Manly Cemetery.

Friends may call for one hour prior to service time on Saturday.

Alan was born on August 1, 1924, in Accrington, England, the son of Thomas Turner and Bessie (Wilson) Sefton. He attended local schools and upon graduation, was apprenticed as a millwright. He worked in that capacity, supervising the installation of machinery and restoring water mills until World War II. During the war, he was a member of the Royal Air Force and worked with instrumentation and the bombing project of the Ruhr River dams.

After the war, he met and married Jannette de Haan. They traveled often to Vinkeyeen, the Netherlands, where Jannetje was born and it was there that Alan became interested in Dutch Street Organs. They moved to Pella, Iowa, to join five brothers and sisters of the de Haans. There, Alan worked for Van Goro Corporation.

After two years, they moved to Manly, where Alan worked for Tom's Musical Wonderland and Museum, maintaining and working on mechanical organs. Alan retired and lived in Manly until the time he became a resident of the Riverside Nursing Home in Charles City.

Alan is survived by a brother, Peter Sefton, of Cotehill Carlise, England, and three nephews, David of Manchester, Andrew of Carlisle and Michael of Ullswater, England.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Bride Colonial Chapel, (515) 454-2242.

[Globe Gazette online, Thursday, November 18, 1999]