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Herman Andrew Johansen ’48

A picture of Margaret Kilbuck Johansen and Andrew Johansen

Margaret Kilbuck Johansen ’44 and H. Andrew Johansen ’48

Herman Andrew Johansen ’48, September 30, 2013, at home in McMinnville, Oregon. Andrew grew up in Astoria, Oregon, and came to Reed, where he met Margaret H. Kilbuck ’44, who became a lithograph and textile artist and a weaver of distinction; they married in 1939. Andrew left Reed to serve with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division in Italy during World War II, and returned after the war to complete a BA in chemistry and physics. He then worked at the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Albany, Oregon, and earned an MA in chemistry and a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Oregon. For more than 20 years, he was a research scientist in metallurgy at the Westinghouse Research facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, doing groundbreaking work on the isolation of titanium. He retired in 1975 to do farming in McMinnville. Andrew and Marg raised organic blueberries and reforested sections of their farm, which was enrolled in the federal wetlands program for the South Yamhill River. Andrew was politically active until middle age, and maintained interests in mountaineering, nature conservancy, biking, woodworking, and gardening. He also sang and performed in local choirs and theatres. He reported that his education at Reed had been of great importance to his life and career. “The technical competence obtained in the field of chemistry enabled me to follow a lifelong interest in the nature of materials, particularly inorganic chemistry and rare metal metallurgy, and to follow my natural bent for inquiry into all matters of intellectual curiosity.” Survivors include three sons and two daughters, including Marta J. Johansen ’78; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Marg died in 2004. In accordance with Andrew’s lifelong regard for libraries, donations may be offered in his name to the Friends of the McMinnville Public Library.

Appeared in Reed magazine: September 2014

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