A MEMORIAL TO MY FATHER: Carl Herman Molling April 29, 1928 to August 6, 2008
My father requested to be entombed at Fort Rosecrans in San Diego, California. He also requested that no service be preformed. I, his eldest son, Marcus believe that a life like his needs to be celebrated.
As a child, Carl looked toward the sky. His dream of becoming a pilot was realized when he joined the Navy just in time for the Korean War. His marriage to Patsy Ann Tierney was also just in time for me to become an official baby boomer. During his service in Korea, his best friend Marcus, was killed during a mission and whom I carry his namesake. This was a major turning point in my father’s life. After this event, he volunteered for extra missions and avenged the death of his friend many times over.
A staunch lover of freedom, and hater of the oppressive communist regime, Carl, as well as many of his fellow squadron members, faced literal walls of lead to deliver their payloads of bombs and napalm. You see, the Chinese soldiers had learned how to lead an airplane much the same way that a duck hunter leads a bird. Many a marine is alive today because of the daring low level bombing mission flown from the pitching and rolling decks of aircraft carriers like the Princeton. The Korean War is not spoken about as often as World War II but it had the unfortunate distinction of having the highest pilot per one hundred death rate of any conflict the U.S. had previously been engaged in.
After Korea, Carl stayed in the Navy to become a flight instructor stationed in Pensacola, Florida. Navy pay was low in those days and my father flew air shows to supplement the family income. He did a type of flying called barnstorming which sometimes included flying literally through a barn opened at each end as well as other daring aerobatics. When he left the Navy, he flew commuter aircraft for charter services and a construction corporation. He also had his own Aero Commander dealership located at San Diego’s Lindberg field. Growing up in this time we as children had many an opportunity to go flying with our dad. Once for either mine or my brother, Kurt’s birthday my father took the neighborhood kids for an airplane ride around San Diego. Imagine the expense of doing that nowadays!
Eventually my father went to work as a civil servant at Miramar Naval Air Station overseeing contractors who supplied the Navy with products and services necessary to run the operation. Once he uncovered a gross overcharge that added up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. He reported the overcharge and left it at that. However, the local news station got hold of the story and wanted to make a big deal of it and hang the contractor out to dry. My father believed that the issue had been dealt with and did not wish to further embarass the parties involved. I was so proud of him for taking the high road and forgoing his 15 minutes of fame.
My mother developed cancer in 1984. The next three years took a heavy toll on her as well as my father and she lost the battle in May of 1987. Carl retired a short while after this great loss and spent time working on his home in Escondido and flying model airplanes. Later, in the early 1990’s he met Marie Gunn and had a thirteen year relationship with her until he left Escondido.
On Christmas Eve of 2007, my father lost his balance and fell backwards and broke the top two vertebrae in his neck resulting in a surgical procedure that wired these two vertebrae together. Unfortunately, this fall and surgery left my father in a constant state of pain as well as a permanent bending of his neck over and down to the right. My wife Christine went down to Escondido on January 5th 2008 and spent the next 35 days getting him ready to transport to an assisted living facility in Yachats Oregon, just 15 miles from our home in Seal Rock. This is a beautiful facility that is less than a mile from the coast and has good food to boot! I knew of this place as I had occasion to deliver medical oxygen there when I worked for Lincare. I would highly recommend Sea Aire Living and its wonderful staff to anyone seeking an assisted living home. Carl lived there until Thursday, July 24th when he went in to Samaritan hospital to undergo a simple toe removal.
The toe removal went just fine, so I proceeded with my plans to deliver a water feature to my sister-in-law in Grants Pass, OR, just 5 hours south of our home. Later the next day (Friday) I got a call from my wife telling me that my father had plunged dangerously close to death and that she would spend the night there in his room. I shortened my time away and headed home Saturday morning. By this time, he was out of immediate danger. I arrived early that afternoon to find him alert and aware of his circumstances. I still thought he would be leaving the hospital in a couple of days to return to his home at Sea Aire. This was unfortunately not the case.
I am so grateful for my wife who I often reminded my father that she was the best thing that happened to this family. Christine was always faithful to see to my father’s needs and showed him kindness even when he was hard to deal with, which was often the case. You see, Carl H. Molling was a tough guy. Sometimes his stubborn personality and “his way or the highway” attitudes were more than Christine or I could take. This behavior and attitude made some visits difficult, even to the point of having to cut them short.
In the hospital however, Carl showed an unusual and refreshing sense of humor. He came up with some old sayings like “grease my palm with silver” and all I had in my pocket was a quarter (he requested a silver dollar) I told him that the quarter would have to do. My brother Kurt was able to come from Las Vegas and his daughter Shana from the eastern part of Oregon to spend five good days with my father.
As my father requested, no extraordinary efforts were made to extend his life. His requests were honored. However, this was difficult as I wanted to do all I could to extend his earthly existence. I believe most of us are hard wired to do all we can to preserve life. His quality of his life would not get much better than it was in that hospital bed and he knew it. We honored all of his requests no matter how difficult.
Carl Herman Molling passed from this life into the next on Thursday, August 06, 2008 at 5:15 am. He was 80 years old and spent his final months of life, living on the Oregon Coast. The last portion of this letter will be devoted to that “better place” and why my father is now there.
It is often said upon a person’s passing, that he or she is “in a better place.” Here is where I run the risk of making myself unpopular with some, but, the choices one makes during their lifetime and at the end of their earthly existence, determine if they will spend their eternity in “that better place.” My father and his brother were brought up under a strict and overbearing religious father. The unfortunate part of this was my grandfather over emphasized the rules and none of the grace, love and forgiveness that the true and living God openly offers. My father spent several of his latter years learning about the God of the Bible and his offer of forgiveness through the shed blood of His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. I am not sure if my father accepted Christ as his savior at any time before his final stay in hospital, but I do know that he did make that confession in front of my pastor, Bill Grigory and his wife, Theresa. Because my father did this, he entered into God’s kingdom at the time of his death on August 6th 2008, 5:15 am. The choice my father made insured that he truly entered the better eternal place instead of the “other place”.
My wife and I believe Jesus, when He says that He is the truth, the life, and the only way to attain God’s kingdom. To those of you who are familiar with this passage (John 14:6) and know Christ as savior, you will rejoice with Carl at the end of your days. To those who have not investigated Christ’s claims, we sincerely hope that you do. God is not looking for perfection or those trying to strive for it on their own. God seeks those who know they will never reach forgiveness of sins, salvation and eternal life in heaven on their own. God/Jesus wants us to reach out to Him, from our heart, for help and wholeness.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this memorial to my father, Carl H. Molling. If any who have received this letter and wish to comment or respond, you can call Marcus or Christine Molling at 541-563-4477 or email us at: surfmusic@actionnet.net. Also, my brother Kurt, I am sure would like to hear your comments and he can be reached at 702-884-8850. By reading Carl H. Molling’s memorial, you have honored an honorable man.
May God bless all of your remaining days on this planet and those of your loved ones.
The Molling Family