The life of Orv

Orville Froh is full of stories stemming from his service in the military and career with the Wisconsin State Patrol. At 87, he wanted to create a permanent record of his life’s experiences, so he called on the help of two of his granddaughters to assist him with writing his memoir called “Memories and Moments.”

“Exploring his past has lifted my grandfather’s spirits, strengthened memories he thought he forgot and really just brought out a zest for life,” his granddaughter and co-editor Kathryn Doers said. “We always loved hearing his stories when we were growing up.”

A couple years ago, his family approached him to start writing down his stories so future generations could have something to remember him by. Froh is the historian for the Port Washington Lions Club and said he was up to the task.

While some members of his generation — the so-called Silent Generation — may have difficulty communicating with millenials like his granddaughters, the writing process occurred naturally between them. Froh isn’t afraid of technology and typed his first-person narrative on an iPad and emailed the work to Doers, who lives in Madison, and Erika Vo of Milwaukee.

“We decided if he wants to write another memoir, we will require him to list page numbers on the emails,” Vo said, laughing. “Every day and night we would be getting emails from him and would have to figure out which part of the book he was working on.”

Doers, who is a technical writer, has a master of fine arts degree in creative writing and enjoys writing science-fiction and fantasy stories in her spare time. Vo is a high school English teacher who is currently on a sabbatical for a year. They said they helped transcribe and cleanup 150 pages of notes.  

“I’m extremely thankful my granddaughters are strong writers and editors,” Froh said. “I couldn’t have done it without them. This project gave us something to bond over and create new memories for ourselves.”

The project of creating the 113-page book took them about two years.

During that time, Froh had a number of health setbacks, including falls, bouts of pneumonia and surgeries, but he said that wasn’t going to stop him from getting his story out.

“The falls took a toll on me. If I wasn’t able to use my iPad, I don’t know how I would’ve got this writing done,” he said.

The book consists of five sections spanning his early years from 1932 to 1950, post-high school work, military service, career with the State Patrol and retirement.  

“I think we always wanted to hear his story from beginning to end like this,” Doers said. “It’s nice to have a physical copy of this.”

Froh said it is difficult to choose his favorite moments recounted in the book, but a recent one he is fond of occurred in 2016 when he was invited to attend an Honor Flight to visit the national war memorials in Washington D.C.

“I served during the Korean War for the Fifth Armored Division, but I never fought in combat. I didn’t think I deserved to go on the Honor Flight, but its director Amy Luft said I would regret not going. She was right,” he said.

While he was in the military service, Froh developed a pen pal, Mary Donna, who would later become his wife. An interesting anecdote from the book, recounts how the couple of 63 years were originally childhood neighbors, but never had much interaction until Mary Donna began writing to one of Froh’s comrades. When Froh learned about the girl from his hometown in Sheboygan, the rest became history.  In 1971, the couple moved from Sheboygan to Port Washington.

“My favorite Orville fact is that he keeps the same picture of Mary Donna in his wallet that he kept in his locker. He still pulls it out and shows everyone,” Vo said.

Mary Donna said she is also working on her own memoir, which she started writing before her husband began his.

“I knew he could do it because he has such a good memory. He only had to call his older brother Bill a couple of times to get some things straight. Otherwise, it was all in his head,” she said.

Last fall, the book was self-published through Amazon with a first run of 50 copies that cost $8.50 each. Froh said he waves the fee for readers if they donate $5 to the Port Washington Lions Club. He also printed 25 hardcover versions to give his family for Christmas.

The book has been a popular read among his fellow Lions and extra copies can be printed on demand.

“The word of mouth has been amazing and a lot of people requesting that I get more copies published,” Froh said.

Since publishing the memoir, Froh has remembered more past experiences and has made a couple new ones, as well.

He inserts the extra stories in his book with freestanding pages. Most of the additional stories recount his college years after serving in the military.

“I think I have enough stories now to write another book,” he said, as his granddaughters looked on with a sense of astonishment.

“Hopefully, we can get some writing rights for his book next time and we can make a living off of it,” Vo said, jokingly.

The final portion of the memoir includes photos of Froh at various stages in his life that include his high school graduation, wedding and later years.

He ends the book stating, “Always remember: Every day is a bonus.”