David Arons

David Arons

January 3, 1918 – December 19, 2015

Durham

David Arons, a resident of Croasdaile Retirement Village, Durham NC, died December 19, 2015. He was 97 years old.

He was loved by family and friends for his warmth, wit, deep appreciation and understanding of music, and commitment to making the world a better place.

Aaron David Arons? was born to Solomon and Minnie Echil Arons, Jewish refugees from Kiev, Russia. His parents and three siblings, Leon (Annette), Lillian, and Morton (Dorothy), predeceased him.

Over the years, they lived in Philadelphia, Columbus Ohio; and Salisbury Maryland where Solomon Arons owned a chicken farm that became a family homestead of sorts.

A 7th grade teacher encouraged David to take flute lessons and join the school orchestra. He bought a used instrument for $25, thus beginning a lifetime of devotion to music.

At Overbrook High, he was in All City and All State Orchestras. At the University of Pennsylvania, where the family struggled to pay Depression era tuition of $250 a semester, he played piccolo in the University Marching Band, graduating in 1939 as an Economics major.

Even with an Ivy-League degree, employment was scarce, including job rejection by an insurance company because he was Jewish. He finally found work in Gimbel's advertising department, where the boss was also named David Arons, causing endless confusion and amusement.

David was drafted in 1942. He was engaged to Blanche Fried; they eloped and were wed in Williamsburg Virginia. After Officer Candidate School at Camp Davis, NC, David was deployed with the U.S. Army 105th AA Artillery battalion under General Patton, which fought in Tunisia at the battle of Kasserine Pass.

Blanche enlisted in the Navy WAVES becoming a control tower operator at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn. David later said, "Blanche sent Allied planes up, I shot enemy planes down; together we won the war." In later years, he was increasingly anti-war, also supporting stronger gun and ammunition control.

Returning to Gimbels, he pioneered in TV commercials, became advertising director of May-Stern's department store in Pittsburgh in 1949, then founded his own company, Arons Retail Advertising Agency.

Flautists being too numerous, David learned bassoon in his 50s to participate in the University of Pittsburgh Orchestra and local chamber music ensembles. He was renowned as a sight-reader extraordinaire.

In 1953, David and Blanche opened the Walnut Record Shop, featuring Long-Playing classical albums and Hi-Fi repairs. Many patrons were Pittsburgh Symphony musicians, but a countertop box had top-ten 45s to serve kids from nearby Liberty Elementary School, where son Paul and later, daughter Alice attended.

During the late 50s David published the Nationwide Furniture Advertiser, photo-reducing ads from Sunday papers around the U.S into a monthly subscription newsletter. He and Blanche volunteered at WDUQ, Duquesne University's radio station, reading news and Books for the Blind.

Summers were spent in Vermont at the Bennington College music workshop, directed by George Grossman, a neighbor and violist with the Pittsburgh Symphony.

When Blanche returned to finish her degree at the University of Pittsburgh, David took over the kitchen, with a culinary flair that made him famous among family and friends for homemade soups and pies.

David and Blanche "retired" to Chapel Hill/Carrboro in 1980, first traveling through Asia, Europe and North Africa. Preparing for the move, he learned to make dental prostheses, but NC labs told him 62 was too old to be employed. Undaunted, he became a printing tech for Chapel Hill Public Schools, and staffed the music library at the University of North Carolina.

He also was music educator at Peer Learning, helped organize the Village Symphony Orchestra (later Chapel Hill Philharmonia), and was publicist for Ensemble Courant and Newman Series concerts at UNC. He and Blanche frequently traveled to Elder Hostels.

His pride and joy was co-founding, along with clarinetist Donald Oehler, the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop at UNC, based on his experiences at Bennington. In June 2016, the Workshop, still directed by Professor Oehler, will open its 25th season with the now-traditional David Arons Faculty Recital.

After moving to Durham in 2002, David volunteered at the information desk and gift shop of Duke Hospital; he also sorted and filed microscope slides at the Durham VA for many years. David always received commendation for excellent work, and admiration from his fellow workers.

With other Croasdaile residents who followed arts and current events, David coordinated excursions to local concerts; he and Blanche helped organize play reading and topical discussion groups. His interests and encyclopedic memory for names and family details led to enduring friendships with fellow residents, staff and administrators.

David's monthly column "Music To Our Ears" graced the residents' newsletter, Village Voices, from 2002 till the paper folded in 2011. A natural writer and music historian, he then published one-page monthly "Musical Chit-Chats", exploring musical aspects of such diverse topics as Shakespeare and smart watches.

When impaired hearing and arthritis made playing impossible, he donated his instruments to Leon County High School in Tallahassee, Florida. The flute and piccolo traveled to London with their student players, who performed for Queen Elizabeth during the 2015 New Year's parade.

Besides writing, his most avid recent activity was building Lego Architectural kits. With exceptional hand-eye coordination, meticulous planning and perfectionism, he completed detailed scale models of the White House, Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, U.N., Leaning Tower, Fallingwater, and others.

Outside his apartment, he installed "David's Chuckle Board", featuring cartoons, mostly from classic New Yorker magazines, enlarged and colorized. When he realized his health was failing, he posted a whole gallery of cartoons, saying he wanted to go out "like the grand finale of the Fourth of July". Residents and staff came to view the collection, leaving with chuckles - and wry insights.

David Arons is survived by his wife of 73 years, Blanche Fried Arons, daughter Alice Stillson and granddaughter Mia Eaton (Antoine), son Paul (Michael); and by devoted nieces, nephews, their children and grandchildren.

Donations may be made in David's memory to the Progressive cause of your choice. He recently said his biggest regret would be not living long enough to vote for Hillary Clinton. Perhaps friends and family will consider helping fulfill his last wish by voting for Hillary themselves -- to benefit succeeding generations for which he cared so much, and for the welfare of the nation he served so honorably.

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