Alan Thomas Willoughby Sr., engineer, lover of music and theater, dies at 90
Mr. Willoughby, whose passions in life were music, theater, and his family’s church, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian, died April 7 from congestive heart failure.
Alan Thomas “Al” Willoughby Sr., 90, a systems engineer who loved music and theater, died Wednesday, April 7, of congestive heart failure at Dunwoody Village in Newtown Square.
Raised in Germantown by parents Alfred Slocum and Alma Katharine Willoughby, Mr. Willoughby was a graduate of William Penn Charter School and Haverford College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
Afterward, he worked as a chemist in Louisiana from 1954 to 1956 then joined the Army, where he was stationed in Germany, serving in the Medical Corps.
He and his wife, Roberta, whom he met at a party in 1960, eventually settled in Gladwyne, where they raised their two sons, and Mr. Willoughby enthusiastically pursued gardening, cavorting with his dogs, and listening to great horned owls in the wee hours.
Mr. Willoughby enjoyed a long career as a systems engineer with IBM, retiring in 1991.
But his passions in life were music, theater, and his family’s church, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian.
“These weren’t simply features of his life, but permeated his nature,” said son Alan Thomas Willoughby Jr. “They were something of a continuous wellspring of joy and refuge throughout his years.”
Mr. Willoughby had a decades-long involvement with the Savoy Company of Philadelphia, which says it is the oldest amateur theater company in the world dedicated to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. He eventually performed in all 13 operas and held several leadership roles in the organization.
He and his wife became members of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in 1968, and that became an important part of the rest of their lives.
“He was deeply engaged in that church,” his son said.
For Mr. Willoughby, one of his great delights was singing with the church’s senior choir. He joined in 1988 and traveled with it on concert tours across the United States and in Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Russia.
He also learned to play the church’s 49-bell carillon — something he did regularly until very recently when he could no longer manage the 85 narrow, winding steps that led to the church tower and the carillon, his son said.. He still got to toll the bells in November on All Saints’ Sunday via a remote electronic programmable keyboard, his son said.
For several years, Mr. Willoughby and his wife volunteered with Hosts for Hospitals, a program in which people open their homes to out-of-town guests who need accommodations while their loved ones receive medical care locally.
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Willoughby is survived by another son, David Wistar Willoughby; three grandchildren; and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 13, at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave. in Bryn Mawr.
Memorial donations may be made to Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church at https://onrealm.org/bmpc/give/memorial or mailed to the attention of Sarah Miciek, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010; Haverford College at https://hav.to/give or Haverford College, Institutional Advancement, 370 W. Lancaster Ave., Haverford, Pa. 19041; William Penn Charter School at https://campaign.penncharter.com/make-a-gift or mailed to the attention of Nicole Martz, William Penn Charter School, 3000 W. School House Ln., Philadelphia, Pa. 19144.