Cloudy Thinking » Blog Archive » Jason VON STRAUSSENBURG, Rest in Peace

Jason VON STRAUSSENBURG, Rest in Peace

A Santa Barbara friend sent me this obituary notice which deserves a wider audience.

VON STRAUSSENBURG, Jason

March 15, 2009 9:15 AM

1948 – 2009

The most free spirited, unique, imaginative, creative and loving person many of us have ever known has moved forward to his next adventure.

Jason was liked by anyone who met him, even his friends! There was no lack of camaraderie and pranksterism. Practical physics, chemistry with a bang, high voltage electricity and anything mechanical were a few of his hobbies.

As a shop technician at the University of California Santa Barbara for the last score of years, Jason designed, built and maintained sophisticated laboratories for the high level of research and teaching conducted there. It was a career made in heaven for such a creative mind.

While working at The Isla Vista European Autohaus in the 1970s and 80s, Jason began and completed one of his most ambitious accomplishments: the building of THE STARSHIP ANDROMEDA, a Convair 240 airplane fuselage transformed into the largest known aircraft motorhome, complete with hot tub and original controls for pilot and co-pilot. This huge vehicle participated in our local parades and toured the country, turning heads and even interrupting freeway traffic as drivers stopped to take photos. During these years, he was also famous (infamous) for changing the marquee at the Magic Lantern Theatre across the street to very amusing titles, as well as riding his motorcycle through the theatre and onto the stage during midnight showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Jason is survived by his especially loving wife Angela, his son Josh, stepson Andrew Sollars, several ex-girlfriends and wives, all of whom still love him, and weird friends too numerous too mention.

A memorial service is planned for March 21, 5-8 PM, at the Devereaux CliffHouse, (UCSB West Campus where he and Angela were married).

Jason touched many of us, some of you women several times, and he is dearly missed. So goodbye Jason our friend, it wasn’t always an easy childhood, but it was a long one.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 1:38 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

ray’ssister

My brother and Roger Crona were very good friends during their teens in Michigan. I remember that Roger’s father went to the store to pick up some milk and never returned home. I think Roger was about ten at the time. His mother really fell apart and had a very hard time raising her children by herself. Roger was so smart and creative and, yes, a bit wild. He had a room over the garage where he had installed “Get Smart” type doors – doors that opened and closed automatically. He invented a remote controlled blob that he and my brother would take out on Halloween and have go into people’s houses when they opened the door for trick or treaters. They also recorded one of the worst thunderstorms and later during a very hot summer night (before people had central air) they put speakers up on the roof and blasted it as loud as possible in the middle of night. They cracked up as they saw all the lights go on around the neighborhood and people slamming their windows closed so they could swelter inside on a hot…and definitely rainless… summer night. A little discomfort but not serious mischief and definitely a very good prank for a couple of 15 year olds to pull off. They perpetrated a lot of good pranks.

Roger was always inventing things and one of them was a new kind of metallic car paint. Someone he knew stole a Corvette and Roger was repainting it in his garage. He wanted to test out his new paint. At least that is the story I heard and that was the first time he was sent to jail. When anything was stolen that no one would want, the local police always knew to go to Roger’s house because he was always liberating things so he could build something new. My Dad always said that some big company should just give Roger a nice annual salary and any components he requested and just let him invent. He was a great guy who was too creative to conform to the conventional norms. I will always remember him and all the unusual fun he brought to our neighborhood. I am so sorry that the State of Michigan did not let him finish his life in peace. He deserved better.