John A Boysen

John A Boysen of Rocklin, California passed away on January 19, 2019 from health complications after a fall. He was born in Petaluma, California on November 27, 1927 to Clarence and Lola Boysen and was known as Johnny throughout his childhood and with family members.

John graduated from Petaluma High School in 1944, then went to UC Berkley to receive a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering. During his college years he took time off to serve in the US Navy as an Electronics Technician during WWII. After school, he worked at Stanford Research Institute as a digital circuit design engineer, where he was a member of the team that developed ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine Accounting), a ground-breaking tool for the banking industry. He was acknowledged for his contributions in electrical engineering/computer science in the Cupertino History Museum. He then joined Lockheed Martin for 30 years working primarily on military and intelligence satellites.

Upon retirement in 1989, he along with his wife Betty Lou moved to Grass Valley, California and opened a quilt shop. Betty Lou was an avid quilter and he was her business manager. He continued with his interest in computer science and taught himself HTML to create their business website. In 1999, they moved to Rocklin, California. Betty Lou nudged him to volunteer to tutor math at the elementary school which ended up being a role he cherished for over ten years. In addition to his volunteer role, he participated in the following clubs and activities: bridge, wine, scholarship, computer, bingo, and travel (which included a Danube River cruise when he was 89 years). The most infamous club he started was an exercise group called the Dirty Old Men or DOM group. They would exercise for thirty minutes, five days a week and then have coffee and share funny stories. Eventually a blonde joined, and they became the Dirty Old Men and a Blonde group. That blonde, Kathy Coder, became a dear friend of the family.

John married Zolita Robinson in 1957 and they had two children, Pamela and Todd. They later divorced and John married Betty Lou Osentowski in 1970. Their marriage lasted 44 years until her death in 2014. He helped raise Betty Lou's two children, Dennis and Timothy.

John is survived by his daughter, Pamela Boysen Wagner from Overland Park, Kansas; son Todd Boysen and wife Sue from Colleyville Texas; Dennis Osentowski and his wife Barbara from Livermore, California; and Timothy Osentowski and wife Renee from Sunnyvale, California; and 9 grandchildren Megan and Matthew Wagner, Rachel and Nicholas Boysen, Ryan and Royce Osentowski; and Sean, Sarah, Alyssa Osentowski; sister Helen and Carl Graham, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life service will be held at 11:30a on March 1, 2019 at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Rd, Dixon, California. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the American Cancer Society in his honor.