"Alden and I worked together on many process development and customer support projects including lead free process consulting at several customer sites, the building of 1,200 USB Memory Modules in our laboratory at Speedline, the establishment of a very sophisticated process support laboratory at Motorola, the design, implementation, and optimization of the first Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Process at Motorola Information Systems Group (ISG) in Mansfield MA, and many other “non standard” process development projects for customers world wide while at Speedline/Cookson.

Joe went on to say, "Alden and I worked together for many years both at Motorola and Speedline/Cookson. Alden was a good friend and I will miss him. He was the best process engineer I have ever worked with, able to get to the 'root cause' of the problem because he understood the process so well. He always gave an honest opinion with no 'sugar coating' to everyone he worked with. Alden was a real 'New Englander.'"

Alden at work on a community farm in Marshfield

I knew that Alden commuted from Marshfield to Franklin Massachusetts, about a 100 mile round trip and that he was involved in farming. I did not realize, as was reported by the Daily News Tribune, that he was the chairman of the town agricultural commission and one of the few remaining farmers in Marshfield. He raised a small flock of sheep for meat and wool, and grew vegetables at his farm, Woolyvale Farm, on Union Street, for about 30 years.

A few weeks ago, Alden flew across the Atlantic to pick up the dog tags of his father, a man he never knew. Johnson’s father’s plane was shot down during a World War II raid on ball-bearing factories in Schweinfurt, Germany, two and a half weeks before Johnson was born. On Tuesday, soon after returning to Marshfield with his father’s personal effects, Johnson died after suffering what his family believes was a massive heart attack.

We will miss him.