Ernest H. "Ernie" Treff

1923 - 2019

Groton - Ernest H. "Ernie" Treff, 95, a longtime resident of Mumford Cove in Groton, passed away Sept. 17, 2019, after a short illness, while in hospice at Flesher's Fairview, a skilled nursing facility in Fairview, N.C. He had just recently moved from his home in Groton to Hendersonville, just south of Asheville. It was one week before his 96th birthday.

Ernie was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sept. 24, 1923, and emigrated with his parents to Astoria, Queens, N.Y., when he was three years old. He attended New YorK City public schools, graduating from the School of Aviation Trades in Manhattan in 1942. He enjoyed competitive ice-dance and playing the violin, as well as buying junk cars and fixing them up to cruise around in New York City and Long Island. He worked as a draftsman in Brooklyn until joining the United States Army Air Corps in 1943. This was quite a step up in life, as before then, only college men had been considered eligible until President Roosevelt called for the recruiting of 50,000 pilots to fight in WWII.

Getting to the European theatre in 1944, Lieutenant Treff flew the P-47M Thunderbolt in the famed 56th Fighter Group, with three confirmed "kills," earning him the Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters. After the war and until 1955, he flew P-51s in the New York Air National Guard.

In 1946, he enrolled in high school aat night to pick up the English credits he needed to apply to college. It was there he met a young nursing student from the other side of Astoria, Muriel Carter. They were married in 1951, after Ernie converted to Catholicism. He worked as an engineer while attending Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now City University) at night, graduating with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering (B.S.E.) in 1955. When he graduated, he had already been awarded several patents for innovations in water meters and metal packaging. Over his long engineering career, he was awarded 28 patents for inventions in control systems, heavy machinery and other technologies.

Ernie and Muriel were both from immigrant families, and very ambitious. They changed jobs and homes between the New York metropolitan area and Upstate New York six times before settling in Mystic in 1966. In the meantime, they somehow had the energy to raise five children. Muriel and Ernie were devoted to each other, and were married 61 years, until her death at 84, in 2012.

Ernie was anything if not energetic. He was vice president of engineering at Harris Intertype (Cottrell Mfg.) in Pawcatuck, retiring at 62, to embark on a successful consulting career that took him past his 80th birthday. After "retiring," he eagerly embraced Macintosh computers, becoming an expert at Photoshop as he digitized a lifetime of photographs. His photos have appeared in multiple books about WWII. He was a lifelong sailor, pilot and skier. He was flying until he was 77, became a ski instructor at age 63, and sailed his Beetlecat, "Patches," well into his 90s.

He is survived by daughter, Elizabeth Schmitt; sons David, Arthur, Peter and Thomas, and their spouses Audrey Shelto, Jesse Bell-Treff and Karen Treff; as well as 9 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

"ErnFest," a celebration of Ernie Treff's life, will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019, at Silver Oak Mystic, 90 Welles Road, Mystic.

In lieu of flowers or sympathy gifts, the family suggests donations be made to Ernie's favorite charity, workvesselsforveterans.org, which helps returning veterans start businesses and pursue career education.