Lt. Col. Ercey Lyle Carver

Lt. Col. (retired) Ercey Lyle "Pops" Carver On Wednesday morning, March 26, 2008, our dear "Pops" hitched a ride with the angels to his eternal rest. Ercey is predeceased by his wife Shirley, brother Albert Carver and sister Margaret Wonderleigh. He leaves behind four children: Linda Baretinicich and husband David in Las Vegas, Karen Sneed and husband Don in Austin, David Carver in San Francisco, and Stephen Carver in Los Angeles. He is also survived by three siblings: Frances Murphey of Weatherford, Texas, and Marilyn Rhoades and Warren Carver of Chillicothe, Ohio, along with five grandchildren, five great grandchildren and many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws and dear friends. Ercey was born to Ercey and Frances Carver on August 29, 1920, in Ft. Scott, Kansas. The family soon moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he grew up. As a boy living in the Depression, he worked to help feed his brothers and sisters - as a pin-setter at the bowling alley, and as a caddy at the local country club, where he was chosen to serve as caddy for the great Walter Hagen when he played an exhibition round there one afternoon. When word came of Pearl Harbor, he enlisted immediately, was chosen for Officer Candidate School, and trained for the D-Day invasion. He arrived on Normandy beach only a few days after the initial landing, while the Germans were still shelling the area - and upon setting foot on the beach, jumped into a foxhole as a shell hit nearby. He felt something wet drip into his eyes, and realizing it was blood, said, "#@%&#! I just got here and I'm already dead!" But it was just a scratch, and he didn't bother to put in for a Purple Heart as there was important work to be done and Ercey felt he didn't deserve it "just for a scratch." He served in the Third Army, Fifth Division, 7th Engineers Battalion, under General George Patton and in fact met the general several times - once while in Paris on a three-day pass, General Patton introduced Ercey to Ernest Hemingway! Captain Carver built and blew up bridges for the swiftly advancing Americans from France through Czechoslovakia (including the Battle of the Bulge), liberating little villages and a Nazi prison camp of Russian soldiers. He received his degree in mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University after the war then rejoined the Army Air Corp, which became the United States Air Force. In 1965, he served as base commander at the airbase at Nakon Phenom, Thailand, on the Laotian border, where part of his job was coordinating rescue missions for downed pilots. He married Shirley Essington on November 16, 1958 and the family moved wherever the military took him, from Ohio to Massachusetts to Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, where he retired in 1970. The Carvers then moved to Austin, where Ercey began an eleven-year career teaching junior high social studies at Pearce Junior High - quite a switch from all his previous experience! After that, he enjoyed his well-earned retirement, spending his days competing in (and often winning!) Austin Senior Golf Association events, attending various theatrical and musical performances in which his children participated, playing a little poker, and traveling. One of his favorite trips was with his daughter Karen to Ireland, which created many wonderful memories for both of them. "Pops" Carver was a good and honest man, who always put his country and his family before himself. All who met him liked him, all who knew him loved him. His generosity of spirit and inimitable sense of humor will be missed by many. The family would like to thank everyone at Parmer Woods, especially the loving Garden House staff, for their superlative care of our Pops. Thanks also to staff at the "eating places" Pops loved to visit - B.B. Rovers, Enchiladas Y Mas and Reale's - folks there always made him feel special, which he certainly was. Services will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home on Monday, March 31 at 10:30 AM, with interment to follow at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery at 2:15 PM. Please, no flowers. Instead, the family asks that you make a donation to the National World War II Museum, 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130, Attn: C. Hall.