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.