The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
100 years only 25 birthdays
Lorain man born on leap year to celebrate
One Lorain man is approaching his 100th year with only 25 birthdays to count for it.
Since Alex Emerick, 99, was born on a leap year in 1920 in Avela, Pa., his birthday at the end of the month with be his 25th celebrated on the actual day.
For the years off the leap year, celebration was sparse, Emerick said.
“For a long time, I didn’t celebrate them at all,” he said.
But celebrating on the actual day “made it all the more special,” Emerick said.
As for longevity, Emerick chalks it up to good genes.
“My mother (Mary Emerick) lived to be 93,” he said.
100 years of history
After he was born, Emerick and his parents John and Mary moved to Lorain in the early 1920s and he grew up with his siblings Joe and Elizabeth.
Emerick’s parents originally immigrated to the United States from Hungary around 1906.
He graduated from Lorain High School, where he played football and was president of the senior class.
Emerick then was drafted for World War II in August 1941 before Pearl Harbor and was enlisted into the 81st Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Armored Division, which was the first armored division of the U.S. Army to go to war.
After he went aboard the Queen Mary and sailed to England, Emerick was sent to Oran, North Africa, where he fought in the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943.
When German forces were pushed out of Africa, Emerick was sent back to England to refit his company.
Emerick then went to Naples and Salerno, Italy, and fought in the Battle of Anzio, on the coast of Anzio and Nettuno that initially began in January 1944 and ended in June of the same year.
He fought on the beach landing at Anzio, where he was injured and transported to a hospital ship in England.
Emerick was released from his duties in the Army and went to Bowling Green State University, afforded to him through the G.I. Bill, also known as the Serivcemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944.
There, Emerick earned a business degree and founded the first chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
During college, Emerick dated his future wife, Olga Skapin, known as the “sweetheart of Sigma Chi.”
He married Olga in 1948 after graduating, and the couple had four children. She died in 2012.
The couple also traveled “all over the country,” according to son Darrell Emerick.
Emerick then worked at the U.S. Steel in data processing, where he retired at the age of 65.
He has three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Darrell Emerick said his father supported his family in all their endeavors and is the “best father, best husband, best friend, best grandfather.”