Stanley Czark

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do."- Mark Twain

Stanley Czark

December 26, 1921- September 20, 2020

When members of the greatest generation leave our world they don't do so quietly. Their life lessons echo across generations. So even though Stanley Czark passed away peacefully in Columbia, Maryland only a few months shy of his ninety-ninth birthday, his five children, eleven grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren will talk about his love of life, his accomplishments, and his blunt truths for decades to come.

Stan graduated from Cornell University in 1943 with a degree in Structural Engineering, but his final semester was put on hold when he was drafted to serve in WWII. Never one to take the easier path, he trained to become a bomber pilot and, as lieutenant commander, was deployed to Europe with the 596th Bombardment Squadron, part of the tactical 9th Air Force squadron. Arriving in France after D-Day, he flew forty-six missions including two missions per day during the Battle of the Bulge.

When he returned home, he graduated from Cornell and started work as a structural engineer for a prestigious firm. He met the love of his life, Thea Schrank, a bookkeeper, inside the Empire State Building. They married, started a family, and finally settled in Floral Park, Long Island where Stan once again, broke with convention and left the corporate world to start his own engineering firm.

When he turned fifty, and long before it became popular, Stan started running. He took up transcendental meditation, bought a motorcycle and journeyed across the country, alone or with his kids. Intellectually curious and an avid reader he was fascinated by the American West and Native American Art. He also took his family on yearly trips to Vermont, a special place for them all, and sadly it was where Thea passed away after a family gathering at their favorite restaurant in Middlebury.

In his later years, Stan traveled through Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. He danced at an Indian wedding, sampled wines on multiple trips to Paris, explored the Brazilian rain forests, marveled at the architecture of Dubai, celebrated Oktoberfest in Munich, and enjoyed ballet at the Kennedy Center. He loved kayaking, skiing, and biking, and made his own style statements with his coyote coat, multiple cowboy hats, and turquoise belt buckles.

To his five children he was a tough taskmaster who always took the road less traveled. He taught them to figure things out on their own, to be independent, and to think outside the box. His message: There are many ways to live a life and make it your own.

To his grandchildren and great grandchildren he was the cool grandpa who rode a motorcycle, wore bling, went on safari at age ninety, and was an important part of American history.

One of the last photos of Stan show him on his deck at sunset overlooking his beloved Lake Elkhorn. He holds up his wine glass as if to offer a toast to his life, and to his family and friends who will miss him. But he smiles, a wink perhaps, to say 'It's been a great ride.'