Lee Erminger
30 AUG 1931 - 8 JAN 2003
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Joan McCulla - Shirley Fontaine - Donnie Erminger - Bundren - McCulla
SEP 2003
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Lee Erminger
2000
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D - 2
1st Row: Bundren - Chura - Coyle - Cummins - Erminger - Fetko
2nd Row: Fontaine - Herman - Heye - Jefferies - McCormack - McCulla
3rd Row: Russell - Meisenheimer - Michalove - Monahan - Quinn - Riggs
4th Row: Stern - Stockett - Thorsen - Werner
5th Row: Wilkinson
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Lee and Donna married graduation day after being engaged for six years. They were married for forty-seven years ... in sickness and in health. It is impossible to write about one of them without thinking of the other. Donna moved to West Point in 1953. They were inseparable for a half-century - Donnie was one of us in D2. Lee's health was an issue as early as our cadet days. He chose Armor but resigned in 1958. Sons Mark (1956) and Daniel (1958) were born in Army hospitals. In 1960 - Lee was re-appointed to the Army Ordnance Corps where his engineering and mechanical aptitude served the Army well until his first heart attack in 1967 led to his medical retirement in 1971. Lee joined Martin Marietta in Orlando. Mark graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1978. Lee retired on disability from Martin in 1983. He was very active in the American Ordnance Association. His lifelong hobby and passion was building and flying radio-controlled aircraft. Lee endured arthritis - four heart attacks - two unsuccessful bypass operations - carotid artery bypass surgery - two strokes after abdominal aorta bypass surgery and the installation of plastic renal arteries. Lee endured eight other surgeries to remove cysts and tumors. He survived until 2003 long after he decided that he had no more spare parts for bypass surgery. Lee's motto was "Keep Going!" He died peacefully in his own bed in January 2003. With great humility and respect - I called him "Iron Man Erminger." He will be missed. Dick Fontaine January 12 - 2003 ERMINGER - LEE EARL - 71 - died peacefully in his sleep on January 8 - 2003. He is survived by his wife - Dona; sons - Mark and Daniel; and four grandchildren. Lee graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a Masters Degree from Arizona State University. He completed a distinguished career in the U.S. Army - where he defended the borders of West Germany and Korea. Lee spent most of his Army career helping develop the Anti-Ballistic Missile System. After retiring as a Lt. Col. - he worked for Martin Marietta and was owner of the Harley Davidson dealership in Leesburg - FL. He was past President of R/C World Fliers and an avid R/C flyer. Lee died as he lived - with dignity. Services will be held at Pine Castle Chapel of Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home on January 25 - 2003 at 2 p.m. Donations in his memory can be made to one of his west Point classmates who runs a mission in Mexico - Oscar A. Raynal - MBE 38-197 - 2220 Bassett Avenue - El Paso - TX 79901. Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home - 5800 Hansel Ave. - Orlando - FL 32809 - (407) 855-5800. Please sign and view the family guest book at http://www.baldwinfairchildfuneral.com/ Orlando (Florida) Sentinel January 19 - 2003 As I remember Lee I first see a smiling face. Then I see a caring face followed by the solid assurance of a true friend. Laid back and easy going - Lee was the rock that so many of us relied on to keep us grounded. He'll be missed but not forgotten. Roy Thorsen January 26 - 2003 -w - The memorial service for Lee Erminger took place as planned at 2 p.m. - Saturday - January 25 - 2003. Dona Erminger and their two sons - Mark (Cl ''74 USAFA) and Dan (a very talented artist as well as an engineer) were both present as well as Mark's wife - Cathy. Representing our class was Wynne Stern - Hugh Quinn - Bob Meisenheimer and Bob's lovely friend - Doris "Dee" Cassidy - and Bill May with his wife - Christine. Mark and Wynne - gave fine eulogies to honor the memory of Lee - and RC Flyer club members and fellow Lockheed-Martin workers made short but heart-felt remarks. Mark's eulogy was touchingly humorous - alluding to an event when Lee was taking an exam as an enlisted reserve private during his schooling at Perdue U. He believed that the exam was to lead to another reserve stripe. In fact - the test was for a West Point competitive appointment. He kept besting the competition - thus being required to take yet another exam. When he finally won and was offered the appointment - the person offering him the appointment assured him that since he had completed two years of college - he could enter West Point as a Junior! Lee entered with the Class of 1955 and was too polite to argue about the mistaken claim of the appointment representative. But the most touching eulogy was given by Wynne Stern and appears in electronic form here below. After the service a wonderful reunion gathering of the Class of 1955 member attending the service was held at the home of Bill and Christine May. Donny Erminger - Mark - Dan - Cathy Erminger - and the above noted classmates joined in a wonderful camaraderie that Lee would have understood. Donny seemed young again and as ever charming. It was a sad and yet wonderful occasion for all of us. Bill May January 28 - 2003 YISGADAL VYISKADASH SHMEI RABA IN MY TRADITION - THAT IS HOW OUR UNIVERSAL MEMORIAL PRAYER STARTS: IN TRANSLATION IT STARTS: "MAY G-D'S NAME BE EXALTED AND HALLOWED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD THAT HE CREATED - AS IS G-D'S WISH. "MAY G-D'S SOVEREIGNTY SOON BE ACCEPTED - DURING OUR LIFE AND THE LIFE OF ALL THE WORLD, "AND LET US SAY - AMEN." One notes immediately - when you read it in its entirety - this memorial prayer contains no words referring to the loss suffered ... but - rather - it proclaims and glorifies G-D - and asks only for peace throughout the World. As such - it is a celebration of life ... especially in the face of a loss such as our loss of LEE. And so - I take this opportunity to celebrate the life of LEE. For a moment or two - come back with me...to the years 1951-1955 ... to the days of KAYDET GREY. Members of the West Point Class of 1955 ... kids all - each somewhere between 17 -21 years of age. We were all wet behind the ears. Youngsters who - in 4 short years would join a long grey line of graduates from an institution which would change their very fibre. An institution which would weave a thread between - and among - all - that would last them for the rest of their lives. Lee was one of those kids. I - and others here today - joined Lee as a Plebe in the United States Corp of Cadets - Class of 1955. We were split up into 24 Companies ... 12 to each of 2 Regiments. Lee and I and ... Bob Meisenheimer - Bill May and Hugh Quinn - who are here today. Lee - and I - Bob and Hugh were assigned to Company D-2 ....... Company D - 2nd Regiment ... later to be known ....... for good or bad .... as the "party company". During those years ... glorious and burdensome as they were - each of us were privileged to room with various Classmates. I had the good fortune - for sometime - to room with Lee. Lee - what an easygoing guy ... settled - mature for his years. Always lounging at night in his PJs. Always entertaining himself with one project or another ........ and that Springfield ?03 - that magnificent weapon from WWI which he would tenderly mold into a work of art. If you can indulge me with one criticism of Lee in those days...it was that he found academics ... indeed - everything relating to West Point - soooooo easy .............. WHILE I .... I STRUGGLED SO. And then - there was Donnie ... Memories of our West Point days would not be .... could not be .... complete without fond memories of Donnie - who came to work at West Point - to be with her LEE. Little did she know that she was NOT alone LEE?s sweetheart ... in the hearts of the rest of us in D-2 - she represented all of our sweethearts ... but who - because of distance - we could not see - could not touch - and could not hold. And so - when I take that walk down memory lane - I remember today two among those many kids ....... Donnie and Lee. G-d's love be with you both. Wynne Stern January 28 - 2003 First of all I would like to ask God to help me get through this. My father lived a long life and we are grateful for that. One thing people worry about is that when they die - no one will come to their funeral. I think Dad would be very surprised and very humbled by how many came today and I want to thank you for coming. The other thing that people worry about is that they would have to see one of their children die before them. Thankfully Dad did not have to see that happen. I spoke with his sister - my Aunt Millie - and asked her what she would want to say if she could have made it today. She said that he was her brother and her friend. He had a good life and had a lot to be thankful for. I wanted this to be a happy occasion and a celebration of his life so I wanted to tell you about my Dad - who he was - and what he liked. I will probably tell you some things you didn't know. He was born in New Orleans and lived all over the world during his lifetime. I am sure I will miss a few places he lived but here is what I remember: Growing up he lived in Louisiana - Pennsylvania - Illinois - Indiana - New York - and Arizona where he met my Mom. The Army took him to Germany - Maryland - New Mexico - Alabama - Korea - The Marshall Islands - and Florida. He also lived in Arkansas and Texas. Everyone knows he loved airplanes. Did you know that he was in the Air Force Reserve before he went to West Point and was an airplane mechanic? There were always airplanes in our house. I have baby pictures of myself posing with model airplanes. Dad started flying gas powered airplanes when there was no such thing as a radio. They were call U control and you controlled the airplane with two long wires to make the elevator go up and down. He got his first radio controlled airplane when we lived in the Marshall Islands,it was called a Gallopin Ghost. (Story about following a weather balloon) He loved going to the flying field and flying with his buddies. He was an amazing R/C Pilot and I am sure his friends will attest to that. Dad loved cars and motorcycles. It seems we always had more vehicles than drivers. When he picked up a newspaper - he always started with Cars for Sale. On Friday and Saturday nights - we always drove by the used car lots to see what they had. He owned so many different cars - I don't think I could remember them all: Jaguar - Cadillac - Mercedes - MG TD - Simca - Mustangs - Corvettes - convertibles - mini-vans - and Harley Davidson motorcycles. He was always fixing the cars even when they weren't broke. He told me once that if he hadn?t gone to West Point - he probably would have been a race car mechanic. Speaking of West Point - did you know that he got in by accident? He was going to Purdue and was in the Air Force Reserve. He went to take an Air Force test to get another stripe and took the WP Entrance Exam by mistake. He thought that was an awfully hard test just to get a stripe. After he passed the first test - they gave him another test and then told him he had earned an appointment to West Point. He didn't want to go so they told him - since he had two years at Purdue - he would start at WP as a Junior. Also did you know he spent his whole Army career preparing him to go back to WP to teach Spanish? Dad loved sports. We used to watch the ABC Wide World of Sports together every Saturday. We watched NASCAR before it was cool. Did you know that he used to race go-karts? He had a go-kart with a chainsaw engine that would go 100 MPH. He also raced cars in what they called GymKana. Did you know that he used to play professional soccer in Germany? He loved watching basketball and football on TV. The Florida College football teams were his favorite - Orlando Magic and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He would have been real excited to watch the Bucs play in the Super Bowl tomorrow. We were very blessed to have Dad as long as we did. He could have died when he was 35 and had his first heart attack. He lived 36 more years - pretty incredible considering everything he went through. I never thought he would live to see me graduate from high school. He was able to see his two sons graduate from high school and college - get married and have children. He saw three grandchildren graduate from high school and one from college Thank you again for coming to help us celebrate his wonderful life Mark Erminger February 2 - 2003 They say memories are golden well maybe that is true. I never wanted memories - I only wanted you. A million times I needed you - a million times I cried. If love alone could have saved you - you never would have died. In life I loved you dearly - in death I love you still. In my heart you hold a place no one could ever fill. If tears could build a stairway and heartache make a lane - I'd walk the path to heaven and bring you back again. Our family chain is broken - and nothing seems the same. But as God calls us one by one - the chain will link again. After two years - I finally found the words to tell you how much I love you. Donnie Mrs. Lee E. Erminger February 9 - 2005 |
USMA 1955 Roster
USMA 1955 Pictures