The Rev. Alan Tichenor Passes Away
Former Aramco Protestant Fellowship pastor Charles Alan Tichenor, 91, passed away peacefully in Bishop, California on April 27, where He had been a resident for three years.
The Tichenor family in Dhahran, August 1957: Alan and Ella with three of their children. (Woman at far right is probably Marilyn Luther.)Known to Aramcons of the '50s as Pastor Tichenor, Alan and his wife Ella along with their sons Peter, Mark, and Samuel arrived in Bahrain in 1952, where he served as the first pastor of the newly formed Protestant Fellowship. He would commute from Bahrain weekly as itinerant preacher to all three Aramco districts until the king granted Aramco's request to allow him and the family to reside full-time in the Kingdom itself starting in 1954. Daughter Kaaren was also adopted from Sweden that same year. Dhahran was the family's base in Arabia until 1957, when he returned to Davenport, Iowa to pastor a Presbyterian Church there.
Born in Portland, Oregon to Charles Francis Tichenor and Esther Virginia Eagle, Alan spent a carefree childhood enjoying fishing and scouting. He graduated from Franklin High School in 1934.
His education continued in Illinois, where he graduated from Wheaton College in 1939 and married Ella Marie Tichenor. They moved to Philadelphia, where he earned a Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Theology in three years. He used a Stevenson Scholarship to continue studies in Semitics at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught Hebrew and Old Testament History through 1945 and then continued graduate study at Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, receiving his PhD in May 1948.
He was ordained a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, later transferring to the United Presbyterian Church. One of his first posts was as minister in Aledo, Illinois. From there, on the recommendation of Aramco Protestant Fellowship member E. A. Sundberg, he interviewed at Aramco's New York office, was hired, and served as pastor from 1952 to 1957.
After several years of a pastorate in Iowa, he returned to the Middle East as History Professor at the Lebanon-Haigazian College, an Armenian college in Beirut, Lebanon 1960-1963. He then became the Assistant Headmaster and Chaplain at the American Community School (ACS) in Beirut until 1967, when the Six Day War forced their return to the United States.
Dr. Tichenor served as Professor of History at Allegany Community College in Cumberland, Maryland until his retirement in 1979. His wife Ella preceded him in death in 2003. After relocating to Bishop, California, where he lived next door to his niece Ruth Nielsen, he wrote his memoirs "Go East, Young Man, Go East!", much to the delight of his friends and family.
He is survived by sons Peter Tichenor and his wife Eileen of California, Mark Tichenor and wife Mary of Canada, Samuel Tichenor of Canada, and daughter Kaaren Patton of Maryland - and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren!
Instead of cards, son Mark Tichenor invites people to sign an online guestbook at Charles Alan Tichenor.