EARLY YEARS-COMMENTARY

"Far and away, the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."- Theodore Roosevelt, Labor Day speech.

Most Americans who survived the Great Depression were deeply scarred, physically and emotionally. This national trauma drove many into despair and self-destruction while many others developed a resiliency (defined by Websters as "an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune and change"). I could not imagine that any adjustment would be "easy" during that time. It seems that the incredible work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit along with his financial aspirations that Mr. Erich developed early in his life provided him with the fortitude-the "mental toughness" that would serve him to survive the next great trial of his life-polio.

EARLY YEARS

" He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times".-Johann von Schiller

I am grateful to Rotarian Audrey Clark of District 5170 for providing me with Jerry Erich's biographical information.

Jerry Erich was born on January 22, 1929 in Taft, CA, child of Westly and Vivian Erich. His father worked for the Standard Oil Company. As a youth, Jerry liked playing baseball, and his dad played for the Standard Oilers. His family moved to Stockton, CA. where his father started working for his brother, Bill at Erich Radio.  After the move, Jerry's dad started playing baseball for the SF Seals. Soon afterward, his parents split up, and he and his mother moved to San Jose. Jerry spoke of them having a very hard life during their early years, and he recalled having dreams of being rich.. The family would go to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk  when they could. Jerry loved the merry-go-round thinking to himself, "someday, I'm going to be rich enough to ride this all day". When he was 10, he was mowing lawns and shining shoes on the street. At 12, he worked two paper routs in the morning and evening. When a carrier  didn't show up, he would deliver their routes for a dollar.  Jerry had the job of "shack captain" where he would assign paper routs to carriers. He was paid $25/month. He saved his money and bought war bounds. At age 14, he had saved enough, $1500, to buy his mother a house on West Reed St. He was also repairing and fixing bicycles to make more money.