At the start of our March meeting, our Post charter was draped to honor the memories of Erv Schmidt and James “Rock” Roth. Shortly after celebrating his 98th birthday on February 10, Erv suffered a mini-stroke from which he never fully recovered. Rock died unexpectedly from a heart attack while he and his wife, Marilyn, were returning home from visiting family in Arizona.
Erv became a member of VFW in 1942, while he was still serving in the Navy in the Pacific theater of operations. For many years, he was a fixture at Post meetings and always drew crowds of admirers when serving on Poppy distribution details. Rock has held several elected positions in our Post and provided leadership for several important programs. He was serving as our Post Chaplain and was responsible for coordinating our Student Essay program and Speakers Bureau, and Rock also was responsible for the District 1 Voice of Democracy program.
Post # 8870 extends its sincerest condolences to the family members of Erv and Rock. We appreciate the many fine contributions they made to our Post, and they will be sorely missed.