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Do IT this week: Layering
Area residents Edna Schill and Ralph Roy Rohrer enjoy good, long lives
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Nov 09, 2009
Edna Schill, 100, and Ralph Rohrer, just days away from the century mark, are two engaging characters.
Edna Schill
She didn't come over the bridge from Flushing, Queens, like Fran Fine, played by Fran Drescher on TV's The Nanny.
However, Edna Anna Schill — decidedly different in style and philosophy from Ms. Fine — starred in that role for real. And for decades. It just wasn't played out on TV for all the world to see.
Still, it's a role very much cherished by the long-retired Miss Schill and the family she governed, who hold her so dear. To them, she's family.
That's why they did everything possible to make her milestone birthday memorable.
James A. Crouse, vice president of marketing for Akron's Portage Path Behavioral Health and present for the recent interview, still calls her ''Nonny.''
''She came to work for my family in 1928 at age 19, and has served various capacities, including nanny for my uncles, my father, my sister and myself, and house manager for the home that used to stand on the upper part of our property,'' said Crouse, whose family is immersed in Akron's history.
''She has seen many local and national dignitaries pass through the house to meet my great-grandfather and grandfather, and has a wealth of stories to tell about old Akron, including how my great-great-grandfather, George W. Crouse, used to walk home from dinner with O.C. Barber, and they had to have a policeman go with them to keep their arguments from turning into fistfights.''
At the time of my visit, however, Miss Schill — a little bushed from playing five-card rummy with friends at Copley's Sumner on Ridgewood, her new home — wasn't much for long stories.
''While she may have started off as an employee, as far as we are concerned, Edna Schill is family,'' Crouse continued.
''She's not family by blood. But since my Grandma died before I was born, Nonny has been like Grandma . . . She's the one who taught me to play catch and basketball.''
''I still don't feel my age,'' the nattily dressed centenarian declared.
She doesn't look it either. Oh, she's a bit hard of hearing and takes four pills a day.
''Some are for old age and some for blood pressure,'' she said.
The big party took place on Halloween, the honoree's actual birthday, at the very place where this story began: the Crouse farm in Green.
She continued to live there independently until a few years ago. But both families began to fear for her safety.
''She continued to mow the lawn until she was 92,'' Crouse said as the petite and irrepressible Miss Schill listened attentively and affirmed his recollection as fact. ''She also cleaned the gutters. It got to the point we were afraid she might fall off the roof.''
Miss Schill still keeps busy. Crouse and other family members say they have a tough time getting her on the phone now that she's padding around with a new crop of friends.
''Edna Schill's own family has a lot of history in the area, too,'' Crouse was quick to note.
''She is part of the Killian clan, who have given their name to Killian Road and currently to the Killian Latex Co. She was one of 10 kids, one of whom played for an original professional football team, the Canton Bulldogs.''
Her lone surviving sibling, Elizabeth Fischer, resides at Rockynol Retirement Community.
The party served as a reunion of sorts for both the Crouse and Killian families, with members in attendance from as far away as New York, New Hampshire and North Carolina.
Ralph Rohrer
Ralph Roy Rohrer, who turns 100 on Nov. 30, has amassed many claims to fame.
For starters, he's the only surviving member of Wadsworth High School's class of 1927, where he graduated with honors. He proved to be a perennial student. He graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1931; attended the University of Akron (1931, 1941-46), Kent State University (1931 and 1949-66), the University of Michigan (1935-39) and the University of Toledo (1962-63).
''He earned professional certification in both Michigan and Ohio for secondary and vocational teaching and supervision, plus a masters in education,'' his daughter, Jane Miller, a retired teacher from Wadsworth, writes.
''He was the coordinator of diversified occupations for Wadsworth Schools for 10 years. He taught machine shop from 1940-41 at Hower Vocational School in Akron. In 1961, he became the supervisor of Trade and Industrial & Adult Education for Sylvania School. He established the Wayne Adult School of Practical Nursing while he was the coordinator of Vocational & Diversified Co-Op Training in Wooster.
''He was on the teaching staff at Centralized Rural School [now Isham] when he met and later married Inez Lenore Goodman, who was on the faculty. . . . Inez passed away July 12, 1996.'' The couple had three children.
Mr. Rohrer, who is preparing to leave for Florida before the first snow, also has been a registered Red Cross instructor, Akron Area Scout Troop 401 committee chairman, registered basketball official and coach.
''He's designed and built original models and applied for patents, conducted a nationwide search for trade training information, had articles published in the Technical Training magazine, operated lathes, mills, shapers and other machine shop equipment, equipped several new vocational shops,'' his daughter said.
His impressive resume continues.
''He conducted the Summer Machine and Design & Development for Mechanical Lab at the Babcock & Wilcox Co. in Barberton. While at the Ohio Injector Co. in Wadsworth he was a part-time machinist and tool designer which later was beneficial to Ralph while at Firestone ['51-'61],'' his daughter continued. ''He became the curing equipment engineer for the development department . . .
''On June 5, 2008, he was the first teacher to be placed in the newly formed Teacher Hall of Fame at WHS.''
Daughter Martha Joan Rohrer-Fisher is a retired Lutheran minister in Pickerington; son David Rohrer is retired from the Bureau of Unemployment Services in Canton. There are 12 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Edna Schill, 100, and Ralph Rohrer, just days away from the century mark, are two engaging characters.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 02:13 PM, 11/09/2009
Rohrer? Is he the guy that invented Qualudes?
Wadsworth, oh
Posted 07:23 PM, 11/17/2009
that is great- finally some good news to report
