I feel like I may have said it a million times, but I really love my job. The Florida Engineer gave me a really great assignment last week. I got to photograph Charles Poekel, who is 93, in the swamp on the field with the lights turned on just for us! It was his first time back to campus since 1938, he graduated with a Master's Degree in '37. Below you'll find a copy of his bio, and it's worth reading. Beyond designing a lighting system for the players practice field (before there was a stadium) he also worked for the army patenting propellers that were resistant to frost, and was married to his college sweetheart for 63 years. A Nole and a Gator together for so long, can you believe it?! :)
The day following our shoot he was celebrated as a prestigious alumni with a luncheon. He met with the Dean and gave a very short statement. It brought me to tears. As his son and caretaker helped him stand to accept his award, in a quavering voice, eyes brimming he gave thanks to God for giving him such a good life.
"In 1933, Charles entered the University of Florida majoring in electrical engineering. He graduated in 1937, with high honors. At the University he belonged to the Benton Engineering Society and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He was also inducted into Sigma Tau, a national honorary engineering society, and Phi Kappa Phi which was the highest honorary scholastic society at UF. Phi Kappa Phi limited the number of enrollees to no more than 10 percent of the graduating class.
At Florida Charles was active in the ROTC and obtained the rank of Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
In 1938, Charles received his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida, again graduating with high honors. His masters thesis work entailed the electrification of a football stadium that resulted in the first illumination of Florida Field, known today as The Swamp.
After graduation Charles migrated to New Jersey where he worked for the Propeller Division of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in Caldwell, New Jersey. During World War II that division sent more than 100,000 airplane propellers to Europe for the war effort.
Struggling with how to keep propeller blades from icing up on a plane Charles devoted hours of research at Curtiss-Wright to finding a way to prevent icing. His research and experiments led to U. S. Patent #2,402,770 issued on June 25, 1946, and his anti-icing device for aircraft propellers revolutionized aviation.
Following his employment at Curtiss-Wright, Charles went on to work as an engineer for U. S. Rubber in New York City and Gould & Eberhardt in Irvington, New Jersey. He then joined American Machine & Foundary in New York City and helped to design the handling devices for the manufacturing of the hydrogen bomb at the Manhattan Project on the Savannah River in Georgia.
Charles has been a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey for more than 60 years.
Using his engineering background, he started a small appliance business in Caldwell, New Jersey. He liked retail sales but disliked the stocking of inventory which often became outdated and un-sellable. Based on that experience he went into the real estate brokerage business and founded a travel agency – both businesses that used someone else’s inventory!
He was married for 63 years to Mary Alice Lester from Jacksonville, Florida who was a graduate of the Florida State College for Women and whom he met on one fateful weekend at a dance in Gainesville. He proved that a Gator and a Seminole can “bury the hatchet” a build a good life together.
Charles has a daughter, Anne Poekel McCauley who is married to Richard and is a homemaker living in Chatham, New Jersey and a son Charles A. Poekel Jr. who is an attorney and author living with his wife Lynn in New York City. Charles Poekel has five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, including his namesake, Charles Axel Poekel III, a film-maker and devoted grandson.
Charles’ brother Carl Pockel continues to reside in Dorchester, Ma. where he was born along with his wife Hilda.
Charles continues to reside in a house he built in Essex Fells, New Jersey, and still works and travels on cruise ships. He tells the best lawyer jokes and marvels at the engineering feat that is the flat screen, high definition TV.
This was his first visit to the campus since 1938."
What do you do when it feels like 100 degrees outside and there are massive amounts of people everywhere you need to be? Well, if your name is Kirsten, and you're pretty awesome, you just smile, adapt and stay very, very patient. GRADUATION IS TOMORROW(!!!) for a lot of people, Kirsten is one of them. The stadium was jam packed with people taking grad photos. I'm talkin ants at a picnic carrying off the sandwiches, packed. And somehow people were actually running in this heat. Lunacy. Nonsense. Doesn't matter! We managed and climbed over things and it was all good in the hood. It's safe to say she's going places and I'm really glad I got to meet her today. She has great taste in shoes and just take a look at those EYES! Woo!
