John Prohaska died in Davis CA on April 16, 2010, just short of his 98th birthday. The cause was complications from a fall at home on April 13th.
He was born April 21, 1912, to Otokar and Lucy Prohaska (nee Xelowski) in Oak Park, IL, the third child and first son to two practicing pharmacists. His early life was divided between school and the drugstore, which offered a clear view of life in that day. After graduating from high school in 1933, he attended Carleton College on scholarship before returning home to help support his parents, who were devastated by the Depression.
He started working as a stockroom clerk for the Ideal Roller & Manufacturing Company, a maker of then-novel oil-resistant synthetic rubber printer's rolls in Chicago. He was promoted to laboratory work. At the outbreak of World War 2, he took employment with the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company working on molded synthetic rubber parts, in particular the fittings for self sealing ("bulletproof") gas tanks for aircraft. Six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he married Evelyn Frances Dunn.
In the turbulence of the postwar economy, he and Evelyn followed his skills where they led, from Akron Ohio to Oakland California to San Clemente California, where the couple lived for over 50 years, becoming active members of St. Clements-by-the-Sea Episcopal church. Shortly after Evelyn died in 2005, he moved to Davis, CA to live with one of his children.
The community embraced him, and he took vast pleasure in the welcome.
He is survived by his daughter Evelyn and sons John and Robert, along with four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Erskine