Person:Earl Vollmer (1)

RI City directories [TH-IL 196]: 1924: mechanic for IL Oil Co; lives with Marie at 924-7th Ave; Marie is wife. 1927: draftsman for Micro Machine Co, Davenport 1928: draftsman; same home 1930: Asst. engineer, NuWay Corp 1933: draftsman for Micro Corp, Davenport; still at 924-7th Ave. 1934: draftsman 1939: mechanical engineer. no company specified; moved to 2160-29th Street 1942: mechanical engineer 1947: chief engineer; same home.

Earl served in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force (serial #134 26 93) from May 24, 1918-September 30, 1921. He entered service in Des Moines, IA and separated at Great Lakes, IL. He served as Electrician 3rd Class. Enrolled 24 May 1918: Des Moines; landsman for electrician Transferred to Navy radio school, Harvard University, Aug. 8, 1918. Reported for active duty on 25 May at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL. Released from active duty 7 Feb 1919 as electrician 3rd class (radio) from New London, CT. Honorable discharge on 30 Sep 1921, Ninth Naval District, Great Lakes, IL. [TH-IL 254].

Civil Air Patrol: 1942-43 [Documents from the archives of the Moline airport [TH-IL 222; this is the only info on the CAP during war time that I could find] In December 1941, immediately after the USA entered WW II, all non-military flying was cut off for national security and to conserve fuel. All airports, including the one at Moline, in effect became military installations for the duration. Private pilots, including Earl, were unhappy not to be able to fly. Two local business men and fliers went to Chicago and got permission to organize a Civil Air Patrol Unit at the Moline field as a semi-military group prepared to act on the local front in case of emergency. Early in January 1942 the Moline Squadron, part of the fourth group in the patrol’s Illinois Wing, was organized. Earl served as communications officer. Late in March 1942 the men received their uniforms. Earl was then appointed co-leader of Unit 3 Squadron drill unit. Pilots joined the CAP because they could get all the gasoline they wanted. Serious members spend three hours every Friday night in classroom work, two hours of drill on Sunday mornings, and were on call for flight missions Sunday afternoons. Some “parasite pilots” flew while the serious men were drilling and this created bad feelings. Later Earl was part of the fifth squdron of the third group of the Illinois reserve militia when 15 of them participated in their first camp maneuvers in bombing and other air corps tactics at Camp Logan, Wisconsin, during September 1943. After maneuvers, the fliers began their return to Moline in eight planes, but were forced to stop at Chicago because of bad weather. Their return was delayed by a day.

Lived at 2160-29th Street, Rock Island.; SS#482-03-4101; Married in home of Marie [TH-IL 133]. Served in navy in WW I; remained in navy a short time after the war; took classes while in the navy and was fluent in Morse code. He also learned to fly in the service and owned a single-engine plane in the late 1940s. He worked for Microwesco, Buddy-L Toys, and Admiral Mfg. The latter made consumer products like TVs, washing machines, etc. He was project engineer at Admiral. During WW II, he worked on the proximity fuse at the U. of Iowa, Iowa City. He held a large number of patents on personal inventions. One invention was a rotary bread slicing machine. He travelled to Florida to install several of them. Member of Quad-City Plus 60 Club, past-president of Hawberg Civic Center Senior Organization; past-president of SPEBSQSA. Obit [TH-IL 34] and Donald Vollmer (son) in phone call to Earle McBride: 2/8/2002.

In 1978, Earl was turning in an intersection in his car when it was hit by a pick-up truck driven by Felicia J. Wright. Wright sued him for the loss of her truck for $750. Earl countersued for $1001 for damage to his car on the basis of excessive speed, failure to be alert, etc. The case was moved from small claims to the Fourteenth Judicial Court in Rock Island. Clarence A Darrow (relative of Clarence S. Darrow?) was Earl’s lawyer. The court heard witnesses and ruled there was negligence and contributary negligence and dismissed the case [Th-IL 214; Case # 78LM201]

Bill Dailing recalls that Buddy-L made a remote-controlled car about a foot long that did not work and was not put on the market. Earl apparently redesigned the toy, made it work, and marketed it [Phone call 2-15-03].

OBIT in Rock Island Argus, June 8, 1981. ”EARL C. VOLLMER Earl C. Vollmer, 83, of 2160 29th St., Rock Island, died at 10:15 p.m. Saturday at Moline Public Hospital. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rock Island, The Rev. Henry C. Lubben and the Rev. John L Stuebe will officiate, and burial will be in Chippianock Cemetery, Rock Island. Friends may call at the Hodgson Funeral Home from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. Memorials may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rock Island. Pallbearers will be Wallace C. Erickson, Wendell F. Jones, Alphonse F. Heyninck, Lawrence Gieger, Mark Hammon and Kenneth Geiger. Mr. Vollmer was born Nov. 2, 1897, in Burlington, Iowa, the son of Charles And Emma Eimberger Vollmer. He received his education in Burlington and had lived in Rock Island for 60 years. He had been employed by the Admiral Manufacturing Co., Galesburg, as a chief engineer, He retired in 1962 after 25 years of service. He also had been employed at the MicroWesco Co., of Bettendorf, the Buddly L. Toy Co., Moline, and as a project engineer at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. He married Marie M. Theus July 19, 1922, in Rock Island. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church; the president of the Quad-City Plus 60 Club; past president of the Hauberg Civic Center Senior Organization; and past president of SPEBSQSA. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. During World War II he was an officer in the Civil Air Patrol and also had served in the Iowa National Guard. Surviving are his wife; a son, Donald E. of Savanna; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a sister, Mrs. Vyrne Dunlap of Davenport. He was preceded in death by a brother and a sister.”

DC [TH-IL 100; Rock Island File # 84508] reports he died of lung cancer complicated by chronic lymphocytic leukemia in Moline Public Hospital; informant was spouse; SS# 482-03-41

Probate records have his will [TH-IL 213]

“Last Will and Testament of EARL C. VOLLMER

I, EARL C. VOLLMER, of the City of Rock Island, County of Rock island, and State of Illinois, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make, publish, constitute, and declare this, my Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all Wills amd Codicils thereto by me heretofore made. FIRST: II direct that my just debts, funeral expenses, and costs of administration be paid. SECOND: I give, devise and bequeath all the rest, residue, and remainder of my property, of whatsoever kind and wheresoever situated, to my wife, MARIE M. VOLLMER, to be hers absolutely. THIRD: Should my wife, Marie M. Vollmer, predecease me, or in the event that he should survive me but die subsequent to my death as the result of a common disaster, then I give, devise, and bequeath all the rest, residue and remainder of my property, of whatsoever kind and wheresoever situated, to my son, DONALD E. VOLLMER, to be his absolutely. LASTLY: I hereby nominate and appoint my wife, MARIE M. VOLLMER, to be Executor of this, my Last Will and Testament, and request that he be not required to furnish bond or security as such. In the event of his death, disability, or inability for any reason to act as such Executor, then I nominate and appoint my son, DONALD E. VOLLMER, to be Executor of this, my Last Will and Testament, and request the he be not required to furnish bond or security as such. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 4th day of May, A.D. 1949. Marie M. Vollmer (signature) (seal)

The above and foregoing instrument, consisting of one typewritten page, was, on the 4th day of May, A.D. 1949, signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said testator, EARL C. VOLLMER, as and for his Last Will and Testament, in our presence, and we, at his request, in his presence and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witness thereto, fully believing the said MARIE M. VOLLMER to be of sound and disposing mind and memory on this date. Witnesses: Ruth T. Haws (signed) Residing at Galesburg, Ill. E. Malcolm Long (signed) Residing at Knoxville, Ill.” [TH-IL 213]

Earl’s estate included half the value of their house (= $31,750) plus $40,650 in cash instruments. He had $9,000 in life insurance.

1. ↑ Rock Island File number 84508.