Alvin DeLieu Strand, Jr. (Big Al or Pete) passed away on June 1, 2021 at his home in Decatur AL with his brother and Hospice at his side.
He was born on July 25, 1944 in Elberton GA to Mary Frances (Cloninger) and Alvin D. Strand, Sr. and grew up near the Chippewa River in Eau Claire WI where he graduated from Eau Claire Memorial High School in 1962. He enlisted in the U S Air Force, serving from 1963 to 1967 as a B52 Mechanic at Loring AFB in Maine and in Okinawa, Japan during the Viet Nam war years. Upon his honorable discharge he returned to Eau Claire and enrolled at the U of Wisc — Eau Claire and graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and worked as a cartographer for the next 38 years, in Eau Claire County in WI, the Rockford Mapping Co in IL, the state of MO and finally the state of AL until his retirement in 2010.
