Alan E. Arnold

Alan Evans Arnold, 72, of Hastings, New York passed away at the Manor at Seneca Hills on Friday, May 2, 2025 after a brief, but fierce battle with brain cancer.

Calling hours will be from 4:00 to 7:00pm on Tuesday, May 20th, 2025 at Traub Funeral Home, Inc., 684 North Main Street, Central Square, New York.

Alan was born on October 5, 1952 in Syracuse New York to the late Clifford and Katherine Evans Arnold.  He grew up in Hastings Center and attended the old Main Street School in Central Square. While at Paul V Moore High School he was active in Science Club and was a sound engineer for the WCSQ radio station run by Hugh White. He was a valued member of the rifle team under Coach Paul Menjik.  He graduated in June 1970 and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

His entire immediate family attended his graduation from boot camp at Parris Island in January 1971. He then attended Individual Combat Training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. After completing the Hawk fire control maintenance course at Fort Bliss Texas, he arrived for duty in the 3rd Littoral Ant- Air Battalion at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina.  The USMC rifle team wanted him as a member but his unit would not release him. While at Cherry Point he completed more technical training at Fort Bliss as well as at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and was promoted to Sergeant.

After completing his enlistment in 1974, Alan returned to central New York and found he missed military life. He enlisted in the United States Army in June 1975 and attended Army orientation training at Fort Jackson North Carolina.  He completed both the Strategic Microwave Systems Repairer course at Fort Monmouth New Jersey and a circuit conditioning course at Fort Gordon Georgia before reporting to his duty station at the 298th Signal Company in Germany. He served at both the Kaiserslautern and Bad Kreuznach locations.

While in Germany Alan traveled as much as possible and indulged his passion for photography and hiking. Not limiting himself to one country he traveled to the Netherlands and Greece where he bought tulip bulbs for his mother in Amsterdam and a vase for his grandmother in Athens. He took tours as often as possible to as many countries as possible taking thousands of photographs and slides.

In April 1978 Alan was discharged from the Army at Fort Dix New Jersey and started his civilian life.

He attended Onondaga Community College while working for Brown Sound in Syracuse, New York as a technician.  He traveled to Lake Placid, New York multiple times to install sound systems for the 1980 winter Olympics. After receiving his Associate in Applied Science, Electrical Technology in 1983 Alan transferred to the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology in 1988.

He worked two years as a Software/Firmware Test Engineer at General Electric Ocean Systems, did Quality Assurance for Kodak Business Imaging Systems, and spent time as a Software Test Engineer/Systems consultant at Northern Telecom before finding his niche in medical technology at Monroe Community Hospital.  After 15 years as a Systems Programmer/Administrator he retired from Monroe County and returned to Central Square. He worked a short time for SUNY Upstate as a senior programmer analyst, and spent a brief stint as a census enumerator before traveling to Maryland to work for the University of Maryland Health system as a Senior Integration Programmer HL7 interfaces, becoming an expert in the EPIC electronic health record system.  He retired for good in 2024 after 12 years in Maryland and returned home to Central Square where he lived with his sister Karen.

 Alan was a regular blood donor for many years with a total donation of 23 gallons! He was also a generous alumnus of RIT.

Alan loved to travel and take photographs and he did so as often as possible. He avidly pursued completing his Passport to your national Park stamp set by visiting as many locations as possible to receive an ink stamp verifying his visit.  He had visited all but four locations east of the Mississippi and had been planning an extensive road trip to locations in the west to add to his stamps.

He enjoyed walking as much as possible and visited Destiny Mall and local parks often to do so; sometimes his sister Eileen would accompany him although she had trouble keeping up with him. Alan participated in multiple CNY Folk marches, including a challenging trail at Clark Reservation in September 2024. 

Alan retained a keen interest in competitive shooting throughout his life. Music was also a passion and he acquired a large collection of music CDs, many from the performers at Renaissance Fairs which he enjoyed attending. He was a regular at the Maryland Renaissance Fair and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair, and he took road trips to visit many others. He videotaped numerous musical acts and took thousands of photos of the fairs. Alan also had an interest in military aircraft, visiting multiple military museums dedicated to them.  He particularly enjoyed the Commemorative Air Force when it came to Hancock last June.  He enjoyed video games and playing board games with his sisters after dinner, particularly Terraforming Mars and Munchkin.

He is survived by his younger sisters, Karen Arnold, and Eileen Arnold.

Sometimes quiet, other times talkative he loved to laugh and had a unique sense of humor.  Although Alan served a stint in the Army, he was first, foremost, and always, a Proud Marine- wearing a Marine ball cap whenever possible.

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