Vail, Fredric Lee

Fredric Lee Vail lived a full 98 years of life and died peacefully Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011.

Born in 1913, on the Vail homestead in Lebanon, Ore., he participated in the advancement of technology through the 20th century, starting as a natural mechanic for the family's first edition automobiles in the 20s. After logging and harvesting in the Pacific Northwest, he worked as typewriter mechanic to fund his education at Oregon State University. Lee helped redesign the P-138 at Lockheed Aircraft in Los Angeles in the early 1940s, and danced to the big bands on Saturday nights.

After the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, he volunteered for the U.S. Army where he was a cartographer and tank gunner, racing to free concentration camp victims in Belgium and Germany. He met the love of his life, Jarmila Tomandlova in Czechoslovakia. They married in Manitowoc, Wis., in 1948. He continued his career as an industrial engineer for Diamond Match and then as a civilian employee for the U.S. Air Force in Sacramento, Calif.

He and Jarma were devoted parents to Mary and John. Many family weekends were spent on California lakes where Lee slalom water skied into his 60s.

Lee was a faithful Christian gentleman and loving father, grandfather, husband and brother. He will be deeply missed by his family, Mary Beth and Alan Ross, and his three grandchildren, Lauren, Evelyn and Jeff; his two surviving sisters, Zena Caulley and Elizabeth Cole of Springfield Ore.; son, John; nephew, Vlada Tomandl of Prague, Czech Republic; and many nieces and nephews in the U.S. and Czech Republic.

Memorial services will be held at 2:30 p.m. March 4 at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. Graveside services will be held in spring of 2012 in Eugene, Ore.

Online condolences may be sent to Lee's family through the web at .