Posted by W S Zoller on June 29, 2007:

EULOGY FOR DAD By his son, Steve Zoller September 1st, 2005 First of all, let me say: Thanks to all who are here today and also to the many who are unable to make it, but have expressed their deepest sympathies in many ways. Through thoughts and deeds all of you have given my father and my family strength over the past many months and have shown us - me especially - the meaning of kindness, and grace of the human spirit. To everyone who knew Dad and to all the residents and staff of Village on the Green, please accept the deepest and most sincere thanks of the Zoller Family. Before I get started, I have one story to tell about Dad. Anyone who got to know him over the past year will appreciate this. On the second day Dad was in the hospital I had the privilege to play with him what turned out to be his last card game of gin rummy. He told me he could play no more and wanted to stop for a while. The score was 48-15... and just guess who was ahead -- Dad!!!! Well, he knew when to quit; and in typical and expected fashion, went out a winner... even at the card table! We remember today my Dad, Virgil Lee Zoller, who was a Son, Brother, Uncle, Cousin, Subordinate, Commander and Friend to many. He was also a Father, Grandfather and Husband of noble character whose virtues are best reflected by the story of his life. During a philosophic conversation a few months ago while sitting and looking at the lake behind building B, he told me if he had it to do over again he wouldn't change a thing. Virgil Zoller was a product of the twentieth century. He was the first of his line born in the twentieth century and lived the life of a true twentieth century man. An eighth generation American and the son of a long line of farmers and soldiers, he was born near the southern Illinois town of Marion on July 14, 1914; and almost from the beginning his life was impacted either directly or indirectly by the great events of Twentieth Century. Even World War One had an unknowing impact on his life as it sewed the seeds of change in the American economy and moved his family forever away from the farm where they had always lived for generations. The other major events of that century shaped his life indelibly as he participated in them on a scale few of us in this room can fully comprehend. The Great Depression of the '30s was the cauldron that fired the steel in my Dad. As a teenager he learned to work for literally everything he had or might want; or he had to do without it. Joining the Army to escape a life of disadvantage and earning an appointment to West Point proved to be the springboard to a life-journey he could not possibly have imagined in 1932. World War Two gave the hard-charger an opportunity to lead on a grand scale... and he did it well. He continued his leadership on a larger and larger scale through the Korean War and the Cold War, playing a major role in early National Policy formulation on Viet Nam and leading the Military Intelligence role during the Cuban Missile Crises. He retired from the Air Force as a much-decorated Brigadier General in 1962, and went to work for the Martin Company in Orlando until he finally retired for good in 1972. My Dad was the smartest man I ever knew when I was growing up. In all ways he was like a lightening bolt. I marveled not only at his physical abilities, but also at his mathematical mind, his quickness and grasp of world events, and his ability to reason and come up with the most surprising, thoughtful and sometimes unusual conclusions. He was in all ways larger than life to me. I could never keep up with him; but I believe the most important gift he gave me was... he taught me to think. Virgil Zoller started life on the outskirts of a poor farm town in southern Illinois as an economically disadvantaged and very underprivileged young man with few choices and limited expectations. Dad was not perfect by any measure, yet, he was never poor in spirit or willingness, and the exceptional choices he did make are what widened his horizons, made him a success and set the example for others to pursue. He is still in the process of leaving a legacy for his descendents to follow. A few spoken paragraphs or a few pages of a Biography cannot possibly describe a life that took nearly a century to live. It can only truly be captured by living that life through the years; and can only be measured in the reminiscences we heard and in the imaginations of those of us left behind. Frankly, I just don't know what to say. No words I speak can do justice to the man we honor here today. I can only quote from a poem in one of his West Point literature text books in which he had made some notes in the margins. I think the Ode that he read and studied nearly seventy years ago is appropriate for this occasion today. William Wordsworth's "Ode - Imitations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood" was published in 1807, and I will read from just a part of the ending: What through the radiance which once was so bright Be now forever taken from my sight, Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind; In the primal sympathy Which having been must ever be; In the soothing thoughts that spring Out of human suffering; In the faith that looks through death, In the years that bring the philosophic mind. The clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober coloring from an eye That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; Another race hath been, and other palms are won. Thanks to the human heart by which we live, Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, its fears, To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. So, Dad, from me... Thanks for your life and thanks for my life... Thanks for everything you've done for so many without acknowledgement in return. You did well - very, very well. What you gave me made me who I am. I'm glad - beyond words - that I had the opportunity to return to you a very small portion of what you gave me, and to spend so much high quality, personal time with you and Mom over the past five years. It was all worth it. I love you and I will miss you... everyday. DAD'S OBITUARY: Brigadier General Virgil Lee Zoller, USAF, Retired 1914 - 2005 Virgil Lee Zoller, age 91, passed away August 28th, 2005 at Village on the Green Health Center in Longwood, Florida. The son of John Jacob Zoller and Nettie Ann Abney, he was born July 14, 1914 on the family farm purchased by his grandfather, Adam, near Marion, Illinois. An eighth generation American, on his mother's side he was a descendent of a very old pioneer family who came to America from England in the 1600s. Her ancestors served in the Army during the Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War, during which one was a Brigadier General and eventually the Inspector General of the Army in the 1870s. On his father's side, Virgil's great grand father, Georg Michael Zoller, emigrated from Germany to America in 1855, met his future wife, Caroline Bieber, on the emigrant ship coming over and settled in southern Illinois, in Perry County, and eventually bought a farm near Vergennes. His mother died when he was four years old and he and his sister, Rosena, were raised mostly by their grandparents in Marion. A star athlete and excellent student at Marion Township High, he graduated in 1932. With the Great Depression in full swing he had few options and joined the Army as a Private. Within two years he had earned an appointment to West Point and graduated in 1938, receiving a commission as a Second Lieutenant. The day after graduation he married Mary Ann Sherertz, also of Marion, left for pilot training in the Air Corps and began his military career which took him to the far reaches of the world. He served in many high level command and staff assignments reaching the rank of Brigadier General. A veteran of World War II and Korea, his decorations included: the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and several Air Medals, among others. After retiring from the Air Force in 1962, the family moved to Orlando, Florida where Virgil was employed in management at Martin Marietta leading the development of the Army's Sprint Missile system. He retired from the Martin Company in 1972. He is survived by: sons and daughters-in law, Michael and Pat Zoller of Ft. Walton Beach, FL; Virgil, Jr. and Wanda Zoller of Orlando; John Zoller of Orlando; and Steve and Judy Zoller of Seattle, WA; eleven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Patricia Shaw of Los Angeles, California and Bercha Nell West of Kankakee, Illinois and a brother-in-law, Charles Sherertz of Richmond, Virginia. He was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Mary Ann, who died in January 2005, and his parents and sister of Illinois, and a brother-in-law, William D. Sherertz of Maryland. A memorial service will be held Thursday, September 1st at 11am at Village on the Green and he will be buried with his wife in Rose Hill Cemetery, Marion, Illinois on October 3, 2005.

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