John Gerling is the talented webmaster of our Unit’s webpage. The site offers
a variety of timely information—e.g., within minutes, game results are posted.
John is a busy and active resident at the Rogue Valley Manor. He was director
of their duplicate club for many years; he wrote a manual on duplicate
techniques from which he taught. Ninety residents attended his three sessions of
ten two-hour lessons. His former students now enjoy bridge at the Manor and
elsewhere. Additionally, John designed the website for the Manor library
catalogue, which lists the thousands of books, audio books, tapes and DVDs
available for residents to borrow. In the past, John was manager of the Manor’s
annual sale for three different years.
John was born in Glendale, Ohio, a quaint little village north of Cincinnati.
His father, a professional racecar driver died (of pneumonia) when John was four
years old. John’s mother relocated to Dayton, Ohio, and remarried; John attended
school in Dayton. He was awarded a full scholarship to Cornell University. After
graduation in 1951, with a degree in Electrical Engineering, he specialized in
microwave energy. He was founder and president of several companies in the S.F.
bay area; he still consults occasionally. His last major project was the
development of a microwave clothes dryer for the Electric Power Research
Institute.
In 1976, John was invited, by the Chinese government, to present a series of
lectures on microwave energy at several Chinese universities.
After college and two years in the Air Force, John married; they had four
children. John’s present wife (of 40 years), Elva, had three children. Elva and
John are proud of their eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The
Gerlings have traveled extensively, flying their own plane, backpacking on a
motorcycle and visiting countries around the world. They even built a nightclub,
called the Sea Witch, in Ghirardelli Square San Francisco, which they operated
for eleven years.
John came to bridge late. When his wife was forced to move to the mountains
for health reasons, John had his evenings free during the week after work. He
took up bridge. The Gerlings retired to the Manor thirteen years ago, and John
took up golf in addition to bridge. He now plays golf every weekday morning, and
attends some bridge sessions in the afternoons. When John and Elva first moved
to the Manor, they lived in a cottage, which afforded them the room to set up a
small machine shop. John constructed mechanical miniatures and doll houses for
his grandchildren. Now that Elva and John live in an apartment at the Manor, the
computer is the only equipment for which he has room.
We bridge players are beneficiaries of John’s talents and wizardry on the
computer. We are enormously grateful to John for keeping us up-to-date, informed
and entertained on our very sophisticated website.
