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Alan Francis Regimbal
Alan Francis Regimbal
January 18, 1937 - July 2, 2024: after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease, Alan Francis Regimbal passed away peacefully on July 2, 2024.
Alan was adopted at a very young age by Viola and Laurent Regimbal. Alan’s birth mother, Mary Mullouly Fortier passed away in July 1937, but he knew his Fortier sisters and brothers and kept in contact with them throughout his life. He spent most of his early years in Toppenish, Washington, graduating from high school in 1955. He attended Gonzaga University where he met the love of his life, Connie (Constance Dempsey). They were married in December 1958, and he graduated in 1959.
Alan and Connie made their home on the farm outside Toppenish where they raised six children: Lisa, Alan, Andy, Paul, Sue and Nick. They were active members of St. Aloysius Church. Alan loved golf and spent many enjoyable hours at Mt. Adams Country Club. He also devoted many hours to coaching youth soccer and track teams. He and Connie loved live theater and he had a singing role in the Yakima Warehouse production of The Music Man and an acting role as the King in Hamlet. He spent the early part of his farming life raising hops and concord grapes, but he really found his calling when he branched out into fruit — cherries, asian pears, plums, and multiple varieties of apples. He traveled around the state and internationally to explore and learn the latest in horticultural techniques. He never met a tree (or a person) he didn’t take an interest in, or thought just a bit of pruning would make better.
In 1993, Alan and Connie bought a house in Lake Chelan where the extended family spent many happy summers. After several years of spending the cold months in a variety of places, in 2005 they officially began wintering in Sun City, Georgetown, Texas. After they sold the house in Lake Chelan, they spent summers in Washington State with their son Paul and his family.
He and Connie also had a great love of travel and were able to take many trips with Sun City friends, and several international pilgrimages with the Missionary Father Jim Bok. They also traveled to Ecuador, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands to visit their daughter Lisa.
Alan was a lifeline Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus who actively practiced his faith. One of his favorite ways of praising God was to sing in the church choir using his beautiful powerful voice and one of the first things he did was join the choir when they moved to a new parish.
He was an extrovert who truly enjoyed other people. He would talk to anyone anytime, anywhere. He was intellectually curious, always thinking, always learning.
As part of his curiosity he was an early adopter of technology from the mechanization of hop processing, being excited about his first handheld calculator, and then PC, long before others. He loved great thinkers, people who could analyze a complex subject or process, and write about it. He was also interested in the history of many topics, the world, culture, commerce, and governance. One of he and Connie’s joys was taking classes through Senior University in Sun City.
He was an unconventional investor, but he also had an overall intellectual curiosity and was always reading and learning about investing and the stock market, and had an uncanny knack for picking winners.
He is survived by his wife Connie, children, Lisa Regimbal (Tony), Alan Regimbal (Kate), Andy Regimbal (Lucy), Paul Regimbal (Kim), Sue Regimbal and Nick Regimbal (Mary); 15 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and his sister Shirley Turner. He was preceded in death by his daughter-in-law Marie Regimbal.
The family wishes to thank Generations Hospice staff and the staff of Illuminations at Grand Living at Georgetown for their care of Alan.
A memorial will be held at Holy Rosary in Moxee, Washington, in the spring of 2025.