2/16 Great in-laws and here's a story

GOOD NEWS VALENTINE'S DAY 2014 EDITION 13118 Church Ave NW, Uniontown, OH 44685                              330-699-3554   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.’”