Major Ernest Milliage Enos, Jr, 91, passed away on June 21, 2022, just one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Ernie was born and raised in Sarasota, Florida and graduated from Sarasota High School. Ernie was the son of Ernest M. Enos, Sr and Ouida Hodges Enos and elder brother of Leon “Bunky” Davis Enos, all of whom have preceded him in passing. Ernie was always an avid storyteller, proud of his Sarasota roots and his family heritage.
Ernest served 22 years in the U.S. Army. After entering the Army as a PFC, he qualified to attend Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Fort Benning, GA, becoming a junior commissioned officer. He became a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division and completed Ranger training in 1956. Ernie served combat tours in both Korea and Vietnam.
After completing his tour in Korea, Ernie was stationed in Hawaii. As he told the story, one evening while enjoying dinner and drinks at the Moana Surfrider Hotel, a beautiful woman swung out of a banyan tree, landed in his lap and told him they were getting married. So, in 1955, Ernie married Nova L. Christensen, adding husband and father to his list of accomplishments. Nova and Ernie were married for 51 years, until 2006 when Nova passed. Some of her ashes were taken back to Hawaii to be spread beneath the very banyan tree where she and Ernie first met.
Ernie and Nova spent most of the next two decades living the military life. They were stationed in Colorado, New Jersey, Germany, North Carolina, Kentucky, Panama and finally back home to Florida. These travels provided Ernie with an abundant repertoire for telling and re-tell stories. The listener’s challenge was to find out which ones were real. A great example is his classic “I was shot story”. Ernie had two unique birth marks on his body: one on his stomach and the other on his back. He would show us where he was shot, follow by some animation of being shot, and then say the bullet or arrow, depending on his audience, exited his body without killing him. It’s this kind of humor and desire to make connection with people that guided his life. Nova also had a penchant for embellishing the truth, telling everyone that her husband abandoned her in 1964 to go vacationing in Southeast Asia while she gave birth. Ernie had to always correct the storyline to let people know a duty station in Vietnam wasn’t an actual vacation.
Major Ernest M. Enos retired from the Army in 1971 settling his family in Tampa, Florida. He went on to work for the University of Tampa, GTE and later started his own commercial real estate company.
Dad loved being a native Floridian and had many stories about his childhood including daring adventures harvesting gator eggs, late night foraging for mangoes, learning to ski on homemade skis commonly called boards and out maneuvering sharks in the surf. As we said, it was up to the listener to divine the truth. It was usually somewhere in the middle. As boys and young men, Dad and his brother loved being outside, and being of Portuguese decent, they spent hours fishing with their father, mother, and numerous aunts and uncles. Bunky always said, “Well, we would both start out fishing together, but Ernie was easily distracted by the ladies. It might be why the fish didn’t mind his presence.”
Ernie is survived by his five daughters, Kimberly Farrell (Edward), Kris Meachen (James), Gabrielle Enos, Romney Enos (Craig Harroun) and Stacey Enos (Annie Jonas); grandchildren Grant Jacobs (Jaime Jacobs), Ryanne Ahlman (Jeremy Ahlman) and Gabriel Enos; great grandchildren Emily Post, Katherine Post and Ethan Ahlman; as well as his mother’s stepson John Sterling and John’s daughter Natalie Sefcik, along with several well-loved cousins, nieces and nephews.
Ernie will be interred at Sarasota National Cemetery, 9810 State Road 72, Sarasota, FL 34231, on July 14, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony will be held at one of the cemetery’s Committal Shelters and will be approximately 30 minutes in length. Due to restrictions on the placement of flowers and other memorabilia at National Cemeteries, the family encourages donations to your local non-profit hospice or veterans support group.
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