GOOD NEWS VALENTINE'S DAY 2014 EDITION
Walt and Edith Bjerre: 70 Years and Holding
A New Life Valentine's Day Spotlight
by Charlyn Bridges
Young
Walter Bjerre was having trouble finding a best man. The year was 1943
and his closest buddies were on active duty with WWII. He was in the
midst of what Tom Brokow would later call “The Greatest Generation.” At
the time, Walt had two priorities: to stay alive and to marry his
sweetheart.
He had been serving in the Naval Reserve in 1940 and was called to
active duty in May of 1941. He was aboard the USS Pollux, a newly
commissioned Navy stores/supply ship, when it ran aground during
blinding gale force winds on February 18, 1942. The horrified young
recruit saw many of his shipmates perish in the freezing waters off
Newfoundland. The 93 fatalities represented a loss of half the crew.
Both Walt and Edith were New Yorkers. Walt’s parents were from the
Bronx and moved to Rhode Island to be with his dad at Quonset Point
where he was an iron worker. In the 1930’s Walt’s dad worked on the
construction of the Chrysler Building, New York’s iconic Art Deco
skyscraper.
Edith and Walt met when they were in school. Walt had been a Navy Sea
Scout, a junior Navy program. Following graduation, they didn’t see
each other for a year. There were no phones but they did do some
writing.
Edith worked at Postal Telegraph reading the transmission tapes and
taking book orders two years before she and Walt married. She had heard
about the job from a girl friend’s uncle. In 1941, she was earning $13 a
week – with overtime.
With the wedding date set for October 21, 1943, Edith selected a
beautiful wedding gown and rented it for $25. “People did that in those
days,” she explains. Walt asked his prospective brother-in-law to serve
as best man. They married at the First Presbyterian Church in the
Bronx.
Edith began her marriage as a Navy wife. Their first home was a
rooming house in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Eventually, they moved
to a newly built duplex and made friends with their neighbors.
Walt refers to Edith as a “Good Skate” for her early efforts to hand
wash clothes in the bath tub and to cook over a coal stove. He remembers
a Thanksgiving meal when the bituminous coal in their stove wouldn’t
generate enough heat to cook the turkey. With company coming, Walt
rushed the bird to a neighbor who had the more efficient anthracite coal
in their stove and they finished cooking the entrée.
Despite their early discussion to not have children; to adopt, the
Bjerres found themselves with a family of five: Carol Ann, born in New
York in 1944. She now lives in Highland, Michigan.
The rest of their children were born in New Jersey. “There must have
been something in the water in New Jersey,” Walt jokes. There’s Pamela,
1949, now living in Goodyear Heights; Douglas, 1950, the only son, now
living in Kent; Claudia, 1951, now living in Medina; and Beth, (the
redhead) 1961, now living in West Akron.
When their first daughter was born, Walt was in Morocco and on D-Day,
he was in Casablanca. When he returned to the States, he continued to
fly blimps for the Navy and then for Goodyear who continued to build
Navy blimps. With nine years of active military duty,Walt continued in
the Naval Reserves and retired with the rank of Commander.
Both Walt and Edith remain as trim as they were as newlyweds. When
Edith’s doctor told her she was diabetic and needed to lose weight, she
disciplined herself to lose 60 pounds and has managed to keep the weight
off.
The Bjerres still live in the ranch they had built in 1955 in New
Franklin. He has some help with the landscaping but he continues to mow
his own lawn and Edith maintains a spotless home. And they are both
faithful members of New Life Episcopal Church.
Asked what the best part of being married for 70 years, Walt, laughs:
“The sex!” with his wife trying unsuccessfully to shush her Navy
officer husband. On a more serious note, he said, “When we got to 60
years, we said ‘Let’s make it to 70.’”
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