104 years of wisdom:

Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples. George Burns

Ed Vrona – 104 years of wisdom: Living to be one hundred years old can take a lot out of you, and it will. Just ask anyone you know who’s more than 100 years old. The unfortunate fact, however, is that not many people have the opportunity to meet and truly get to know a centenarian. At least not as well as we knew Eddie, and I must add that many of those in our community knew him far better even than did we, everyone of them deeply cherishing Ed friendship.

The picture to the left is of Ed on the day we met. Already 102 years old and born on the 4th of July, he was, without question, a Yankee Doodle Dandy! Although his eyesight was beginning to fade, nothing slowed him down. He was still walking to and from the clubhouse, entertained friends, inventing, designing and creating things like wooden angels and other crafts for friends and relatives; he was a friend of all and a man of countless stories and experiences, a man who, if you got to know him, you would never forget him.

That morning we spotted Eddie at the community Coffee Social here in Aberdeen, we introduce ourselves, and he began an immediate barrage of questions. A master of oblique compliments, he looked at my wife and then back at me he jokingly asked: “Why’d you marry him? Why’d she marry you? Boy you got lucky!” He laughed.

“Say your last name for me again!”

“Eichenlaub,” I said.

“I can’t say that!” (He laughed again, but repeated the name in a whisper as if to try it out.)

“What should I call you,” he asked.

“We usually pay attention if you use Jim and Kate,” I said.

“That’s better. I can say that. What nationality is that, it sounds German,”

“It is,” I said.

“I thought so. Then you must you like tools…do you have a workshop.” he asked, and I nodded,

“Sure do!” I said,

He laughed again, “Let me ask you something, can you walk and chew gum at the same time?”

“Usually,” I answered. “Depends on how much sleep I get, but most of the time!”

“Good! Then, maybe you can you help me out with a project?”

Having never met him, Kate and I both expected a quick introduction with a “nice to meet you,” but not with Eddie. He bade us to sit, and once you’ve been introduce you were going to be his friend! If you weren’t, it was by your choice, not his, and since he determined that I knew my way around a workbench, I was immediately, and joyfully recruited as an apprentice elf.

“Stop by my house! You know where I live? First house on the right on Green Forest! Number 3! I have something I want to show you.”

A friend, and a padawan learner…

From then on we were regular visitors. After meeting Eddie, I built seagulls and butterflies that fly, cut out angel wings and other parts for his statues, enjoyed hours of stories and not less than a few very good rum-and-coke drinks! On several occasions we were treated to his own key lime pie recipe, pickled cucumbers, and other treats.

Eddie, which my wife and I did not know, was Polish. The name Vrona in Polish is “Wrona,” as the ‘W’ in Polish has the ‘V’ sound. As such, Eddie had a traditional annual celebration known as Pączki Day (poonch-key day), which we learned from him to be a once-a-year event celebrated on Fat Tuesday; something that our family was completely unfamiliar with.

The first time that he invited my wife and me to Pączki Day, he asked Kate,

“Do you count calories?” She shook her head, “Not really, but I don’t eat much,” she said.

Well he said, don’t worry to much about it.

They have a machine they use for the Pączki, and they set the pączki in front of the machine, and when they turn it on, a high-speed fan blows the calories right out of them, so you can eat all you want.

And…I buy only one for each person, so that will help too!

And he’d laugh! That was Eddie! He was rarely without his humor.

With the Pączki was fresh coffee, and as his guests arrived he would check them off the list he’d made on the small white-board that he kept handy for notes. If someone failed to show after two invitations, they chanced losing out the next time. His upbeat spirit, especially at his age, was completely unexpected, very endearing, and very contagious.

To gain 104 years of wisdom, you have to start somewhere…

During a recent visit with Eddie’s daughter, Joann, I was surprised to learn how much of his young life that I could personally relate to. Some of his ‘odd jobs’ such as paperboy, bakery assistant, and bowling pin spotter. How many of us ever had the opportunity to be a “pin spotter.” I wish that I’d known that during our conversations! I’m sure we both had tales to tell! But, I am digressing. From Joann’s written biography of her father, again, remembering Ed Vrona – 104 years of wisdom we learn:

Edward C. Vrona was born on the 4^th of July 1919 in Butternut, WI, marking the beginnings of a prolific life full of starburst accomplishments and celebrations. The Vrona family ended up Chicago in 1926 so Ed’s dad could pursue better employment opportunities for the family of eight. During his childhood Ed worked odd jobs such as paperboy, fish tank assembler, bakery assistant, bowling pin spotter and maintenance at Sears Roebuck. During high school Ed started to develop his mechanical skills in a technical course consisting of mechanical drawing and shop math which would later play out in his Army Air Corp career.

This biography of her father was provided when Ed, as some will recall, was an honored guest of NASA at the 2022 launch of the Artemus One mission. It was Eddie’s mind and skills that, in my opinion, powered and propelled him through the more than 100 years of his amazing life, making it only fitting that he would get to meet those who benefited from his earlier contributions to the space program. Joann shared more regarding where and how this came about:

Returning to the States once the war ended, was the beginning of Ed’s career as a tool and die maker leading to his introduction to the space race. During his time working at Pioneer Astro in Chicago, he was introduced to Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), where he quickly gained the respect of their engineers, being the go-to person for complicated and classified projects.

Ed fondly remembers the challenges of working with Beryllium which was a strong but light weight material essential for the space missions. Ed contributed to the Hubble Telescope, Pioneer and Discover(y) projects (deep space probe), the Polaris project working off the North Star, as well as high-speed space photography. Additionally, he worked on all the early manned programs of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo and is most proud of having parts on the Lunar Landers which remain on the moon.

His only regret is not taking any pictures, never realizing the future impact of his contributions.

Remembering Ed Vrona – 104 years of wisdom – World War II Vet, inventor, explorer, et al.

Eddie had quite a life, and hearing his stories never failed to fascinate. As mentioned above, he showed to us a ball of beryllium, a metal that is so lightweight that is seemed hollow, but was not. The significant properties of beryllium that made it so useful in the space programs, is that it does not expand or contract in extreme temperatures of the sort that are experienced in space travel.

Stationed Papua New Guinea during the war where he worked in the machine shop, he often had to use his extraordinary active and creative mind to help keep the military aircraft flying. Although this is mentioned in Joann’s biography of her father, Ed personally presented us with the hand-drawn diagram of a tool that he invented for the removal of broken spark plugs from aircraft engines, which were otherwise impossible to extract. Without it, the aircraft were grounded. That, however, was the least of his mechanical engineering skills, as you already read.

Being a fellow woodworker and inventor, Ed one day regaled me with the step-by-step description of how he and his tent-mate adapted to their army life in New Guinea; scrounging what they needed, they built a platform above the wet jungle floor that kept them living high and dry in that less-than-welcoming environment. His ingenuity, intellect, and skill was obvious in every facet of his life.

Offering more insight into Ed’s time with the Army, Joann said:

From left, corporal Camilo “Rammy” Ramirez, Corporal Margaret Hastings, and Sergeant Benjamin “Doc” Bulatao. (Photo courtesy of C. Earl Walter, Jr.) [Lost In Shangri-La]

After talking with an Army Air Corp recruiter in late 1940, Ed and his good friend decided to enlist based on the offer of education. He officially entered the Army Air Corp on January 21, 1941.

Ed’s tests revealed his mechanical abilities, and he was selected to enter the machinist school; a valued placement. Originally, after basic training, Ed was supposed to go to Africa but instead was assigned to train civilian machinists. From there he was stationed at West Palm Beach as head of the machine shop. Ed’s next assignment was supposed to take him to Australia, but he was detoured once again to the small primitive island of New Guinea running the machine, welding, sheet metal, and prop shops.

Ed’s mission was to repair planes to get them back in the air ASAP, usually having to make the parts that were broke. It was during that time he developed a special tool to quicky extract broken spark plugs from planes to return them to the air quicker. Without this fix the planes couldn’t fly. Ed was awarded a special accommodation for his invention from his engineering officer of the line. During his 21 months in New Guinea, Ed’s eternal optimism got him through the oppressive heat, local headhunters, snakes, spiders, wild boars and missing his family.

Ed reflects on this time as bringing out the best in him and was even enjoyable.

In addition to Joann’s bio, we learned from Ed that he was stationed there in New Guinea when the daring rescue of Margaret Hastings and a group of soldiers whose C47 transport plane crashed deep in the jungle on May 13, 1945. The story of the rescue is presented by Mitchell Zuckoff, in his book, Lost In Shangri-La, Eddie was subsequently contacted and interviewed by the author, presumably to provide details and support the accuracy of his story.

Georgie…

The most impressive aspect of Eddie’s life, in this writer’s opinion, was his love for his wife Georgette! Again, with Joann’s help, we learned:

Ed was married to the love of his life, Georgette, for 68 years having 4 children, 6 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren. When the couple retired, they split their time between the Florida Keys and Long Beach, IN. They were committed to healthy activities; always biking, dancing, and swimming.

When you asked him anything about Georgie, you could see the immediate change in his demeanor as he spoke of her; an instant, far away, dancing with her again, look on his face. He once said to me,

“We met on the dance-floor, and we danced every day from then on.”

He spoke to me of a few of the many places that he and Georgie traveled and things they’d done, often speaking of Key West and their favorite places there, but the most memorable was their visit to the Seattle, Washington area and their visit of the Quileute Indian Tribe in La Push, Washington, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

He said, laughingly, “Because of our age (near their 80’s, if I recall correctly), our family said, “You can’t go all that way on your own,” But we did! We had a wonderful time.”

The house they built together but couldn’t live in…

Georgette (Georgie), and Ed, with the dollhouse that she and Ed built over a period of ten years. (Which I view as a celebration of their life together).

Georgie made the tiny area rugs in the bedroom and living room. Ed assembled the roof out of 960 shingles, added by hand 10 at a time. There are nine different colors in the paint scheme, with the exterior blend of teal and coral inspired by a Victorian home that the couple admired in Key West. (Jim Abbott, The Daytona Bch. News Journal, May 28, 2023)

Delicately assemble, every room was furnished, wall-papered, painted, and intricately designed by her and to her liking, as he worked on the structure and she on the interior. The result was a beautiful, finely detailed, three story house that was donated in 2022, and put on display at the Center for Autism, Easter Seals, Northeast Central Florida, 1219 Dunn Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL. Stop by and see it!

“We met on the dancefloor and danced every day thereafter.”

Again, daughter Joann shared with us,

Ed and Georgette, c1946-1950

“On the day they met in January of 1946, dad asked her to dance. Mom (Georgette) and her sister, Bay (Blanch), were stood up by someone one evening, so about 9_o’clock they decided to go dancing on their own at the “Paradise Dance Hall” in Chicago. As they stood against the wall waiting, Eddie, and his buddy Harold approached and asked if they would like to dance.

“Who gets who,” was the question. So Harold said, “I’ll take the tall one!” Leaving Ed with the lovely leftover, Georgette! Normally, Ed never had more than one dance with any one girl, but not with her. This night, this time, he didn’t stop, and he and mom danced together all that night.” Ironically, his buddy Harold ended up marrying Bay (Blanch), and they remained friends all of their lives.”

In June of 1947, Eddie and Georgette were married, and according to what Ed told me, they did not stop dancing for the entire 68 years of their marriage. Sadly, Georgie (Georgette) died in 2015, but it was obvious from the way he spoke of her, she and Eddie continued dancing, every day, in his memories.

Ed Vrona – 104 Years Of Wisdom: Ed celebrated his 104th birthday on July 14, 2023, and ten days later he left this life to gain a far better one. His birthday celebration was held at the Veterans’ Home in Daytona Beach, Florida with an airplane flyover, a large cake, and a very large crowd of friends and others. He was also honored by Nashville Musician, David Kent, who wrote and recorded the following song for and about Eddie, and I hope you enjoy hearing it. The lyric to the song are included.

A musical tribute to Ed Vrona, by song writer, David Kent…Ed’s life was portrayed by song writer, David Kent, in 2022. After interviewing Eddie, David said, “This could turn out to be a twenty minute song!” But it did not. It is an excellent tribute to a man who contributed so much! (Click the ‘play’ triangle to hear.)

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