William Max Volna

Volna, William Max, died on 9 February after a brief illness. Preceded in death by parents Max and Anastasia, son Teddy, brother John and wife Jean. Survived by his children Nancy Jarmulowicz (Paul), Amy Roe (Jeff), Andrew Volna (Stephanie); grandchildren Alex, Britta, Annika, Andy, Katya, Max, Zoe, Louie; nephews Steve, Mike and Tom Volna and his cat Posey.

Bill was born in his parents’ house at 3006 Ulysses Street NE on 7 March 1931. His brother John — who was seven years old at the time — chose his name.

Northeast Minneapolis was his universe, and he explored every corner of it. He knew each street and alley and could tell you — or so it seemed — who lived in every house.

Bill graduated from Edison High School in 1949, then pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. In 1950, when Bill had a part-time job bagging groceries at the National Tea store on 29th and Johnson Street NE, he met a Honeywell engineer and war refugee from Poland named George Kwasniewski. George recognized the sophistication of the projects Bill designed in his parents’ basement (telescopes, lens polishing equipment, amateur radios, high vacuum systems) and offered to help him get a job at Honeywell. Thus, at the tender age of 19, Bill landed his dream job working part time in Honeywell’s tech lab. And when he graduated from the U of M, Bill moved over to Honeywell’s Ridgeway Plant to work as an engineer in their Aerospace Division.

After almost 19 years at Honeywell, during which time he married Jean and together started a family at 2218 Roosevelt Street NE, Bill decided to “cut the rope” as he liked to say and start his own engineering company. At the end of each day at Honeywell, he and his dad laid the blocks for a building on 18th Avenue and Quincy Street NE. This building would be home to the William M. Volna Engineering Company for the next fifty years, the place where he would, “make shavings”.

Bill was intensely curious and had a restless mind. He was tireless and dove headfirst into quixotic projects, built endless proto-types and filled volumes of notebooks with sketches for products. He relished undertaking outrageously difficult projects for his clients, including his former employer Honeywell, 3M, Unisys, the US Navy and Air Force.

He never let facts ruin a good story, especially if the facts got in the way of an important lesson he wanted the story to make, or an argument he wanted to win.

An especially notable achievement was his design and manufacture of the Tardis, a mobile and fully enclosed observatory. The Tardis swept the awards at multiple astronomy conventions, including top honors at the annual Stellafane Convention in Springfield, Vermont. When the National Science Foundation asked if they could use his Tardis and bring it to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, he replied that they could use it for free – but only if he could deliver it to the South Pole himself. And so, he went to the South Pole twice – once to deliver the Tardis, and a second time to pick it up.

A hero in his life.

There will be a public celebration of life event at the Hollywood Theater at 2815 Johnson Street NE on Saturday, 22 March from 1 pm until 3 pm. Friends are invited to share stories. Family requests memorials to: St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral, 1701 5th Street NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413.