Karl P. Eichner

1928 - 2008

In this season of Thanksgiving, we give thanks for the life of Karl P. Eichner, who passed away on Nov. 2, 2008, in his beloved Palm Springs, Calif., with his daughter, Karly, by his side. In his own words, "The End of An Interesting Journey." He was 80 years young.

Born on May 14, 1928, in the lovely town of Erding in Bayern, Germany, Karl served as a student soldier in World War II, Luftwaffenoberhelfer (1/475) and achieved the Merit Awards Flakampfabzeichen and Kriegsverdienstmedaille II Klasse und Schwertern. It tickled him that the current Pope also served in the same double battalion!

Following the war, Karl was invited to Cornell and Columbia Universities as a part of their Fulbright Fellowship Program, where he and other former "enemies" attended summer school ¿ and fell in love with the United States. Karl returned in 1953 and within a month of landing had filed his "Intent to Become a Citizen" papers. While always connected to his deep Bavarian roots, Karl was an American; he loved being an American and took great pride in speaking and writing the language beautifully and voted in every single election, from local to national, every year of his life.

Karl was a newspaperman with a deep love of the well-written and well-spoken word. He worked in Munich, Germany, as a staff member of the Suddeutsche Zeitung and was an accidental founding staffer of the Abendzeitung. In the States, he was a classified and display salesman for the Oxnard Press-Courier of Ventura County, Calif. Before his retirement in 1978, Karl was easily recognizable as the only ad salesman to arrive on a Lambretta Scooter while dressed in his very proper suit and tie!

Opera, sports, photography and airplanes were among Karl's great passions. Karl was a longtime member and colonel in the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Ghost Squadron in Camarillo, Calif., and a founding member of the Palm Springs Air Museum.

He loved to travel, most often with his wife of 48 years, Virginia (Ginny, + 8 Sept. 2005) and visited Baja/Mexico, Australia, the Panama Canal, New Zealand, South America, the Caribbean, Tahiti, 22 European countries, six Canadian Provinces¿ and his Absolute Proudest Travel Accomplishment¿ he physically visited all 50 U.S. State Capitols!

Karl was man of little pretense. You could count on your hands the number of times he wore pants following his retirement; one of his great delights had been to donate all his suits and long pants to charities; it was shorts for Handsome Charlie! Karl was a gentleman, he opened doors and lit cigarettes for all the ladies, his civility inspired others around him. He wrote his own obituary for the German newspapers and included this quote, "One has to be widowed to appreciate how much work the wife accomplished."

While Karl always said you didn't stand a chance of getting a word in edgewise around all the Eichner women, he certainly could hold his own and was a source of information, humor, and stubbornly held views. He loved the camaraderie of the Fireside Lounge in Palm Springs and spent many a happy hour around the fire pit at the Circle of Knowledge. He dearly loved the view from the patio at Leon's at the Canyon at the Indian Canyon Golf Resort and his last three years were graced with the beauty of that view and the warmth of his friends (many of them staff members).

The years after Ginny died were challenging ones, but Karl rose to the occasion. He opened his heart and became more loving and gentle, he had to learn how to take care of himself, and he did so with grace and courage. When he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2007 he moved to Central Oregon to be with is daughter and her family; but his heart longed for his desert home and so he returned there to enjoy his last few months. In those last months, he was still strong and vital, he enjoyed visits from nephew Harald Eichner, his sister Elizabeth (Liz), and her son and his fiancé stopped by as well, and Karl was happy to share the beauty of his beloved Palm Springs with them all.

Not enough can be said about the incredible quality of life Karl had in his last months due to the profoundly gifted nurse Dan and the staff of Family Hospice Services. Dan and team gave a gift beyond words; they were caring and compassionate, and Karl died with dignity in his own home.

Karl was preceded in death by his parents, Karl and Therese; brothers, Fritz and Dieter; and sister, Maria.

In mourning are his daughter, Karly Drake-Lusby, with husband Kevin and son Zachary of Sisters, Ore.; brother, Siegfried, with wife Katharina and daughter Sabine, Munich, Germany; sister, Elisabeth McAvinue and sons Steven and Sean, Ulm, Germany; and many beloved relatives and friends.

A Celebration of Life will take place in Erding in May of 2009.

Donations in Karl's honor may be made to:

Family Hospice Care, 41590 Indian Trail Road, Suite A, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270.

Commemorative Air Force, 455 Aviation Drive; Camarillo, CA 93010-9501.

The Living Desert; 47900 Portola Ave., Palm Desert, CA,

Palm Springs Air Museum, 745 N. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs, CA 92262.

Copies of the Memorial CD and/or Life History may be obtained from Heirloom Productions, 760-341-7474; HeirloomFTV@aol.com.

Family contacts:

Elizabeth McAvinue, Magirushoff 35, 89077 Ulm, Germany.

Lusby Family, P.O. Box 1881, Sisters, OR 97759.