Arlon J.

Svien

-
image description
IN LOVING MEMORY

Arlon J. Svien

Apr 05 1920 - Dec 17 2004

Arlon J. Svien a resident of Princeton, Texas for thirty years, died surrounded by his family, December 17, 2004 of complications from Parkinson’s. He was born April 5, 1920. He was preceded in death by many siblings including his brother, Merle and sister, Inez. He graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1949 after serving in the US Army Air Corps during World War II. He joined Collins Radio Co. in 1949 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in engineering. His early work at Collins included propagation studies to achieve better “beyond the horizon” communication of particular importance for the military. He later became involved in antenna development in Richardson, Texas. This work included state-of-the-art broadband antennas and nuclear hardened antennas for communication survival during the Cold War. He was promoted to Vice President for Collins Radio and involved in military and industrial systems. He proposed and later managed the development of a unique Air Borne Communication Platform (TACAMO) for the US Navy for communication with submarines at sea. He was particularly proud of a program for NASA for the World Wide Tracking and Ranging System for the Apollo Mission. In 1971 he joined Forney Engineering Company in Addison, Texas, and became CEO and Chairman of the Board. This included development of innovative management systems for material control and manufacturing that became standards in the industry. He retired from this second career in 1982 and served part-time for another twelve years with SCORE giving guidance to entrepreneurs. He was an avid outdoorsman with many interests and an active rancher for over thirty years. He is survived by his wife of thirty years, Roberta, his son and daughter-in-law, Vic and Cheri Vaughan of Houston, and grandchildren, Brittany, Blake, Shawn and Stacie.

Memorials

absolute-header