Calvan H. Pals

Calvan Herman Pals was born June 5, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois to Clarence Herman Pals and Florence Cara (Cogswell) Pals.  He died March 18, 2019 at age 85.

His father was a veterinarian employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and his mother was a registered nurse.  Because of his father’s employment, the family moved to several different cities.

Calvan attended schools in Sioux City, Iowa; New York City, New York and Alexandria, Virginia where he graduated from George Washington High School in 1952.  He attended college for one year at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia.  He then transferred to Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa and got his Veterinary Degree in 1959.

While Calvan was at VPI; he played the trombone in the VPI Marching Band.  The band was invited to march in the 1953 Inaugural Parade for President Eisenhower.  The Band was awarded First Place in their category.

While Calvan was at Iowa State University, he worked in the cafeteria at the Memorial Union.  There he met Lois Marie Hoskinson who also worked there.  He started walking her back to her dormitory after they finished working in the evening.  They were married August 2, 1958 at her church in Creston, Iowa.

Upon graduation in 1959, Calvan was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a Federal Meat Inspector at Omaha, Nebraska.  He was called to active duty in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps on August 12, 1959 and reported to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas for induction as a 1^st Lieutenant.  After six weeks introduction to the Army, he was sent to Chicago for additional training in Army food inspection.  He was then ordered to his duty station in Kansas City, Missouri.

Shortly after arriving in Kansas City, Charles Harlan Pals was born on December 30, 1959.

Calvan was released from active duty in August 1961 and returned to his job in Omaha, Nebraska.

On October 11, 1962, another son, Jon Lee Pals was born.

In July, 1963, Calvan was transferred to the Meat Inspection Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.  He moved his family to a house in a new development being built on an old horse farm in Bowie, Maryland.

Later he was transferred to the Washington office as a Staff Officer reviewing, modifying and enforcing inspection regulations.

Calvan retired in 1989 after 30 years of service with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Calvan has been active in Christian Community Presbyterian Church where he was the Financial Secretary for many years.  He served as an usher, and later sang in the choir.

He was predeceased by his parents, his sister Helen Ruth (Pals) Kingsbury and his daughter-in-law Joy Celeste (Anderson) Pals.