George Pollom Scharf

George Pollom Scharf, age 99 of Crawfordsville, formerly of Urbana and Fisher, Illinois, passed away on Thursday, December 12, 2019 at Franciscan Health Lafayette East.  He was born on December 16, 1919 in Crawfordsville and was only 3 days from his 100th birthday.  His parents were the late Harvey T. Scharf and Ada Belle Pollom Scharf.  He was a member of the C.H.S class of 1938.  That fall he entered Wabash College where he a member of Phi Delta Theta.  On January 17, 1941 he was inducted into the U.S. Armed Forces as a member of the 139th Field Artillery Band of the 38th Division.  He was stationed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi until the attack on Pearl Harbor when he transferred to the Army Air Corps.  Here he received training as an aircraft mechanic and Flight Engineer on C-47 aircraft.  For the rest of his military career he served in the 32nd Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Group, 9th Air Force.  He served overseas 32 months in the European Theatre of Operations through seven campaigns:  The North African and Sicilian invasions, Naples Foggia, Rome Arno, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe.

After leaving the military service he finished his education at Wabash College.  On December 31, 1946 he married Betty Jane Colvin.  He obtained a Master’s Degree at the University of Illinois and while working on a Ph.D. taught there.  During the 1951-52 school year he was an Assistant Professor at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois.  In June of 1952 he accepted a civil service position teaching electrical and electronic control systems at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois.  Leaving Civil Service in 1959 the family moved to Inglewood, California where George went to work for Space Technology Laboratories and then the Aerospace Corporation where he was a Training Advisor for the Ballistic Missile Division of the Strategic Air Command.  He returned to Civil Service at Chanute in May of 1961 as a Training Advisor and later worked in training research until joining the Technical School Training Operations Branch.

On December 27, 1968 George married Ruth Elnora Kitts Ray.  He took an early retirement from Civil Service at Chanute in 1978 as Chief, Training Plans Branch.  Concurrent with his position at Chanute he had owned and operated the Custom Electronic Service and for 14 years was the Chief Engineer at radio station WKID in Urbana, Illinois.  In 1994 George and wife, Ruth returned to Crawfordsville from their home in Fisher, Illinois.  His wife, Ruth Elnora, died on April 8, 2006.

On July 8, 2010 George married Dancy Lynn Cale Linn who survives.  Also surviving are a daughter by his first wife, Georgeanne Scharf of Champaign, IL; a step-son, Gregory Linn; granddaughters, Stephanie (Bogdan) Cuceu of Richland, WA; Abigail (Craig) DiGregorio of Los Angeles, CA; Sarah (Hem) Wadhar of San Francisco, CA; Rebecca (Arik) Bergin of Los Angeles, CA; nine great grandchildren; and his two kitties, Sami Jo and Pepper Louise.

He was preceded in death by parents and a daughter, Stephanie Scharf of Mishawaka, IN; and sisters, Mae Clymer of Carmel, CA; Gretchen Soth of San Diego, CA; and Amy Parks, of Albuquerque, NM

George was a member of the American Legion, the VFW, the Montgomery County Historical Society, The Genealogical Society of Montgomery County and at one time the Sugar Creek Kiwanis Club.  Always involved with old car activities he was a member of the Ben Hur Car Club where he served a term as president and was the secretary for a number of years.  Nationally he was also a member of the Buick Club of America, and the Walter P. Chrysler Club.  He was the oldest continuous member of the Illini Collector Car Club in Champaign, Illinois.  Here he had also served a term as president and for a number of early years of the club he published the club’s newsletter, The Roadmap.

In retirement George enjoyed making videos and taking photographs of his family and other activities in which, he participated.  He wrote newsletters for his C.H.S Class of 1938 and with other classmates compiled a history of the activities and lives of his Class of 1938 which as its editor he has left to the Crawfordsville District Public Library.

Visitation will be at Sanders Priebe Funeral Care, 315 S Washington St, in Crawfordsville on Saturday, December 21, 2019 from 11:00am till the time of the Celebration of Life Ceremony at 2:00pm with Dr. David Taber officiating. Military Honors by the National Guard and Legion Post #72 Honor Guard will begin the service.  Internment will follow at Oak Hill North Mausoleum.  The family request in lieu of flowers, a memorial donations in honor of George be made to the American Cancer Society.  Share memories and condolences online at www.sandersfuneralcare.com