I first met Eric in 1972, when I was 23 years old and working for his academic publishing company in Oxford. At that time England was widely considered to be ungovernable. The oil crisis had just been resolved, but we were living through a “three day week” brought about by a minor’s strike and the resulting cuts to electricity supply. It was depressing and grey.
In complete contrast to this, Eric arrived full of energy and enthusiasm, and brought with him promises of blue Californian skies, warm sun, oranges growing wild, and advance knowledge of what was going to happen in the Dallas TV series. He introduced me to a world vastly different to the one I had known until then.
70’s England was also particularly class structured and, in the Oxford world of academic publishing, I came from the wrong side of the tracks. Eric didn’t care about that in the least. Apart from once saying that I “was a diamond in the rough” and suggesting that, perhaps, I think about some shaping and polishing, he gave me his trust, his full support and his confidence. I know that many others will agree when I say that his belief in me gave me belief in myself.
Actually, I didn’t need to worry too much about the polishing and shaping problem. Knowing and working with Eric shaped me and my life forever. His charm, honesty, curiosity, intelligence, generosity, and – above all – kindness, seemed to rub off on everyone who knew him. Eric was greatly infectious. I still judge my actions by asking myself “how would Eric handle this”. I seldom if ever measure up to his standard. But at least I know where to aim.
I can’t say that my father ever knew his second cousin, Eric Boehm, or even knew of Eric. But I can say that when I went searching for lost family several years ago and discovered Eric, I had never before nor since found a more welcoming, a warmer relative. He made me feel as though the years and miles had never separated us. During our first conversation, he invited me to visit and stay with him in Santa Barbara. During it, subsequent conversations, and emails, I learned much about our shared Boehm relatives.
Eric did tell me about his book (which I then read) and his military career, and a bit about his education and businesses, but today I see that he was much too modest about those and his other endeavors. His accomplishments as described in his bio far surpass his own presentation of himself.
Regrettably, I am unable to get to Santa Barbara Saturday. So I now simply offer my best wishes to Eric’s sons and their families.
Eric’s and my common ancestors were Koppel Boehm and Sitta Schubart Boehm of Oberlangenstadt, Bavaria, about 34 miles from Eric’s hometown of Hof.
Eric was a great friend of Santa Barbara City College. When he heard that I was developing a Global Studies program, he became an eager "consultant," especially as the design of the program promised to be truly interdisciplinary. When we were up and running, he made a very generous contribution to insure that our program would continue. A kindred spirit, he would sometimes invite me on one of his "walkie-talkies," meaning that we would never have time for lunch because we were engaged in a brisk walk and conversation! It would be a gross understatement to say that our community will miss him! Most certainly, I will miss him!!
#10A Tribute from the UK —
Sylvia Mills2017-11-26 14:41
We are sorry that we cannot be with you to celebrate Eric’s life, but we will be thinking of you all here in the UK.
We met Eric and Inge in Oxford in the early 1970s, when they visited the city along with Ernie and Henny Grombacher. Over the years, we stayed in touch with them and with Werner and we visited each other, both in America and the UK. We have stayed with them in Santa Barbara and Eric and Inge stayed with us on several occasions in the UK. One of our earliest memories is of Eric bringing his own teabag, which was used on several occasions before being discarded!
On another occasion, he and Werner stayed with us before and after a trip to Nepal. On their return, they gave us a beautiful handmade rug from Kathmandu, which still has pride of place in our dining room and regularly reminds us of the two brothers.
On his last visit here, Eric asked if we were anywhere near the village of Latimer and, on being told it was close by, asked if we could find Latimer House, where he had spent some time after the war as an intelligence officer for the US Air Force, interrogating German prisoners. The house is now a conference centre and Eric was warmly welcomed when he told them his story. We were allowed to walk around the building freely and Eric even found his old room. Since then, Latimer House has been in the public eye, because it became known that, as well as the official interrogations, all the rooms were secretly bugged and every conversation was overheard by secret operatives, known as The Listeners. An enormous amount of further information was picked up from these secretly overheard conversations. Unfortunately, by the time this information was uncovered, Eric was no longer able to add anything to the experiences recorded in a book by Helen Fry entitled the M Room, although Capt E H Boehm is recorded as being present as one of the Air Intelligence Section. We do not know if he was also one of The Listeners, but, as a native German, it would seem quite likely.
We have many lovely memories of Eric and we will not forget him!
Eric was probably the most gracious man I have ever known. His courage, his intellect, his worldliness, and his unbending desire to make the world a better place were all astonishing characteristics on their own, but it was his absolute charm that made him such a beloved and engaging presence. Even in his late eighties, he would often go out of his way to come to Philadelphia to visit my grandmother, Lina Dreifuss, and the rest of our family. She was about 105 at the time, but she delighted in his company, and he in hers. As for me, when I was a young kid, I was amazed at how Eric would talk with me like an adult, asking my opinion on a range of subjects and offering insights that made me know I was being taken seriously. It was quite a gift to give a teenager, and it was all so effortless for him to do so. Eric was an inspiration to me, and my life is better for having him in it. And what's more, I know there is a world of people who feel the same way.
#8A special family friendship —
Gerhard2017-11-14 08:52
________________________________________ The Holfelder family is very sorry about the passing of Eric Boehm. Eric was a close friend not only to our father Otto Holfelder but to many of the Holfelder family. We have so many fond memories of Eric and are very grateful for what he did and gave to all us. In June 1945, right after World War II, Eric made sure that our family could flee to the Western part of Germany shortly before the Russians invaded the East. He also supported our father Otto Holfelder in finding a new employment afterwards and stayed in touch with him and our family over all the years. After our father passed away in 1980, Eric and Inge kindly invited our mother Gerda Holfelder to Santa Barbara to offer her comfort and support during a 3 week stay in their beautiful home. Eric and Inge also hosted many of the children and grandchildren of Gerda and Otto Holfelder in Santa Barbara and always welcomed them like family members for very enjoyable holidays. Many of us also remember Eric’s and Inge’s many visits to Germany where we always enjoyed their company.
In our Holfelder family chronicle, that was recently published as a book on the occasion of Otto Holfelders 115th birthday, we have reported on pages 171-177 about the initial meeting and the joint experiences our father had with Eric. Furthermore we have a report about Eric’s visit to Germany in August 2010 when he together with Judy visited the Bayreuth Festival. Both reports are available from Ron Boehm to whom we sent them as PDFs.
The Holfelder family will always remember Eric and his family with deep gratitude, particularly the “children” Ursula Holfelder, Gisela and Jürgen Holfelder, Ingrid and Hans-Dieter Ellsiepen and Gerhard Holfelder as well as the “grandchildren“ Beatrix and Tilman Holfelder, Katrin and Ekhart Holfelder, Claudia and Wieland Holfelder, Albrecht Holfelder, Claudia Mehlig and Peter Ellsiepen, Christian and Thomas Holfelder.
________________________________________ Mit großer Trauer hat die Familie Holfelder die Nachricht vom Tode Eric Boehms entgegen genommen. Eric war ein enger Freund nicht nur unseres Vaters Otto Holfelder, sondern von vielen Mitgliedern der gesamten Familie Holfelder. Wir haben viele schöne Erinnerungen an Eric und sind ihm sehr, sehr dankbar für alles, was er für unsere Familie getan hat. Im Juni 1945, kurz nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, hat Eric unserer Familie geholfen, rechtzeitig vor den Russen in den Westen zu fliehen. Danach half er unserem Vater bei der Suche nach einer neuen Anstellung und war auch über die vielen Jahre danach immer im engen Kontakt mit unserer Familie. Als unser Vater 1980 starb, haben Eric und Inge freundlicherweise unsere Mutter Gerda Holfelder für 3 Wochen zu sich in ihr schönes Zuhause in Santa Barbara eingeladen, um sie zu trösten und zu unterstützen. Viele Male hatten Eric and Inge auch uns Kinder und Enkel in Santa Barbara in ihrem schönen Heim wie Familienmitglieder willkommen geheißen, wo wir immer wunderbare Urlaube erleben durften. Gerne erinnern wir uns auch an die vielen Besuche von Eric und Inge in Deutschland, wo wir immer viele schöne gemeinsame Stunden mit ihnen verbringen durften.
In unserer Holfelder Familienchronik, die aus Anlass des 115. Geburtstages unsers Vaters Otto Holfelder kürzlich als Buch gedruckt wurde, berichten wir auf den Seiten 171-177 über das erste Treffen und die gemeinsamen Erlebnisse von unserem Vater mit Eric. Zudem gibt es einen Bericht von Erics Reise nach Deutschland im August 2010 zu seinem Besuch der Bayreuther Festspiele zusammen mit Judy. Die beiden Dokumente haben wir Ron Boehm als PDF geschickt.
Die Großfamilie Holfelder denkt mit sehr viel Dankbarkeit an Eric und seine Familie. Insbesondere die „Kinder“ Ursula Holfelder, Gisela und Jürgen Holfelder, Ingrid und Hans-Dieter Ellsiepen und Gerhard Holfelder sowie die „Enkel“ Beatrix und Tilman Holfelder, Katrin und Ekhart Holfelder, Claudia und Wieland Holfelder, Albrecht Holfelder, Claudia Mehlig und Peter Ellsiepen, Christian und Thomas Holfelder.
#7Always in my heart —
Alejandro Garcia Berumen Segur2017-11-13 19:57
Thoughts about my dear Eric When I first met the Boehm family, I was 15 years old. I was going to live with them for a year because I wanted to learn English. They kindly accepted me as an exchange student from México City and, of course, I was excited and homesick. I was told by my own parents that during that time Eric and Inge Boehm will be my parents and Ron and Steve will be like my own brothers. And they had been that since then. No matter how much time had passed I feel that I am part of the Boehm family and they are part of my family too down here in México. The first thing Eric told me was that I was like another son to them and that I had to feel free to do what I want (within their own limits of course), asked me if I played checkers, and said that phrase typical of Mexicans “Mi casa es tu casa”. He told me that with his great smile and gave me a hug. My dear Inge smiled too, gave me a kiss and told me, in his new mother’s role, “Tomorrow I will take to you to the barber shop to have a haircut”. It was 1968 and the hippie movement was growing, so I had my hair long feeling I was a member of the rock band The Doors. I felt disappointed but I had to accept. Over the years, I feel that I have a family in Santa Barbara, no matter if we do not see each other much because we had to build our own life, but we have been in touch always in good or bad times. My parents, Jose Luis and Carmen, became close friends of Eric and Inge. They visited each other occasionally, travel together and wrote letters. Eric keep writing and giving me wise advices about my life and my work. He helped me a lot and I felt always his support, love, and care. So did my dear Inge too. Now, with both of them in Heaven, I feel their support, love and joy as an example to follow. Of course, I feel sad but I know, from the bottom of my heart that they are my guardian angels. It is hard to me to accept they are not here anymore, but as long as I think of them, I know they will be living forever in my thought and in my heart. I will remember them as good human beings full of love, tenderness, joy, wisdom and care to help other people. Eric always with his lips drawing a big smile, making jokes, worried about my well-being, my work, my family, and always, always trying to help me and encourage me to do what I want. It is very difficult to me write some virtues he had because he had too much. He is a gifted man (I will not write about him in past time because he is here with us now), he is a talented and creative business man, a wonderful father, grandfather and great great grandfather, good husband, good friend, he is happy and proud to have a wonderful family; a bunch of intelligent people around him in his life, in his work full of good friends; he is a leader, a man who everybody has to follow, a peaceful soul, intelligent, smart and wise man (although he is not a good checkers player); he is always wanting people to be happy and enjoy life. To me, Eric is great man and an example of what a human being has to do in his life. A Gentleman in the whole extension of the word. I am sure God called him to cross the rainbow (as we said in our family) because He wanted to have him close to give Him some advice and to make all our friends and relatives, who are now with him in some clouds, very happy and, from up there, take care of all of us who are still here waiting to join them in the supreme light of peace. I will always love Eric and will have him in my prayers. Love to all the family and hope to see you soon. Alejandro García Berumen Segura 2/December/2017
#6Sixty Year Friendship —
Gerald Davis2017-11-11 20:38
I am honored to be invited to celebrate Eric Boehm’s life, but unable to travel. I worked with Eric for nearly sixty years; thirty of them as abstracter, Advisory Board member, and visiting consultant. We helped create the Association for Bibliography of History and feasted together at professional meetings. My contributions began when Historical Abstracts was still in Munich and Inge edited my text. I wrote 2,000 abstracts for HA and AHL, none longer than the mandated ninety words limit, the exact length of this tribute to a dear friend.
#5Thank You Dear Eric —
Roger Colley2017-11-11 15:40
We treasure the special memories of the years we spent with you in your beautiful home. Your kindness and warmth to us, our visiting children and grandchildren enriched all our lives, and we loved sharing the many dinners ... enjoying our engaging discourse on religion, politics, economics and travels. Always inspiring. You remain in our hearts. We love you and will miss you so much, Roger and Janice
#4You changed my life —
Mary Adams2017-11-11 03:24
You introduced me to the world. You shared your life with me and changed my life as a result. Because of you I met so many amazing people and experienced so many things that without your influence I could only have imagined. There were business lessons and life lessons (make sure to always surround yourself with friends of all ages!). There was hard work and lots of fun. And today as I continue to work in higher education, I know it is all because you took a chance on me. Thank you.
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Comments
In complete contrast to this, Eric arrived full of energy and enthusiasm, and brought with him promises of blue Californian skies, warm sun, oranges growing wild, and advance knowledge of what was going to happen in the Dallas TV series. He introduced me to a world vastly different to the one I had known until then.
70’s England was also particularly class structured and, in the Oxford world of academic publishing, I came from the wrong side of the tracks. Eric didn’t care about that in the least. Apart from once saying that I “was a diamond in the rough” and suggesting that, perhaps, I think about some shaping and polishing, he gave me his trust, his full support and his confidence. I know that many others will agree when I say that his belief in me gave me belief in myself.
Actually, I didn’t need to worry too much about the polishing and shaping problem. Knowing and working with Eric shaped me and my life forever. His charm, honesty, curiosity, intelligence, generosity, and – above all – kindness, seemed to rub off on everyone who knew him. Eric was greatly infectious. I still judge my actions by asking myself “how would Eric handle this”. I seldom if ever measure up to his standard. But at least I know where to aim.
Eric did tell me about his book (which I then read) and his military career, and a bit about his education and businesses, but today I see that he was much too modest about those and his other endeavors. His accomplishments as described in his bio far surpass his own presentation of himself.
Regrettably, I am unable to get to Santa Barbara Saturday. So I now simply offer my best wishes to Eric’s sons and their families.
Eric’s and my common ancestors were Koppel Boehm and Sitta Schubart Boehm of Oberlangenstadt , Bavaria, about 34 miles from Eric’s hometown of Hof.
Al Lederer
We met Eric and Inge in Oxford in the early 1970s, when they visited the city along with Ernie and Henny Grombacher. Over the years, we stayed in touch with them and with Werner and we visited each other, both in America and the UK. We have stayed with them in Santa Barbara and Eric and Inge stayed with us on several occasions in the UK. One of our earliest memories is of Eric bringing his own teabag, which was used on several occasions before being discarded!
On another occasion, he and Werner stayed with us before and after a trip to Nepal. On their return, they gave us a beautiful handmade rug from Kathmandu, which still has pride of place in our dining room and regularly reminds us of the two brothers.
On his last visit here, Eric asked if we were anywhere near the village of Latimer and, on being told it was close by, asked if we could find Latimer House, where he had spent some time after the war as an intelligence officer for the US Air Force, interrogating German prisoners. The house is now a conference centre and Eric was warmly welcomed when he told them his story. We were allowed to walk around the building freely and Eric even found his old room. Since then, Latimer House has been in the public eye, because it became known that, as well as the official interrogations, all the rooms were secretly bugged and every conversation was overheard by secret operatives, known as The Listeners. An enormous amount of further information was picked up from these secretly overheard conversations.
Unfortunately, by the time this information was uncovered, Eric was no longer able to add anything to the experiences recorded in a book by Helen Fry entitled the M Room, although Capt E H Boehm is recorded as being present as one of the Air Intelligence Section. We do not know if he was also one of The Listeners, but, as a native German, it would seem quite likely.
We have many lovely memories of Eric and we will not forget him!
Sylvia and Roger Mills
The Holfelder family is very sorry about the passing of Eric Boehm. Eric was a close friend not only to our father Otto Holfelder but to many of the Holfelder family. We have so many fond memories of Eric and are very grateful for what he did and gave to all us. In June 1945, right after World War II, Eric made sure that our family could flee to the Western part of Germany shortly before the Russians invaded the East. He also supported our father Otto Holfelder in finding a new employment afterwards and stayed in touch with him and our family over all the years. After our father passed away in 1980, Eric and Inge kindly invited our mother Gerda Holfelder to Santa Barbara to offer her comfort and support during a 3 week stay in their beautiful home. Eric and Inge also hosted many of the children and grandchildren of Gerda and Otto Holfelder in Santa Barbara and always welcomed them like family members for very enjoyable holidays. Many of us also remember Eric’s and Inge’s many visits to Germany where we always enjoyed their company.
In our Holfelder family chronicle, that was recently published as a book on the occasion of Otto Holfelders 115th birthday, we have reported on pages 171-177 about the initial meeting and the joint experiences our father had with Eric. Furthermore we have a report about Eric’s visit to Germany in August 2010 when he together with Judy visited the Bayreuth Festival. Both reports are available from Ron Boehm to whom we sent them as PDFs.
The Holfelder family will always remember Eric and his family with deep gratitude, particularly the “children” Ursula Holfelder, Gisela and Jürgen Holfelder, Ingrid and Hans-Dieter Ellsiepen and Gerhard Holfelder as well as the “grandchildren“ Beatrix and Tilman Holfelder, Katrin and Ekhart Holfelder, Claudia and Wieland Holfelder, Albrecht Holfelder, Claudia Mehlig and Peter Ellsiepen, Christian and Thomas Holfelder.
________________________________________
Mit großer Trauer hat die Familie Holfelder die Nachricht vom Tode Eric Boehms entgegen genommen. Eric war ein enger Freund nicht nur unseres Vaters Otto Holfelder, sondern von vielen Mitgliedern der gesamten Familie Holfelder. Wir haben viele schöne Erinnerungen an Eric und sind ihm sehr, sehr dankbar für alles, was er für unsere Familie getan hat. Im Juni 1945, kurz nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, hat Eric unserer Familie geholfen, rechtzeitig vor den Russen in den Westen zu fliehen. Danach half er unserem Vater bei der Suche nach einer neuen Anstellung und war auch über die vielen Jahre danach immer im engen Kontakt mit unserer Familie. Als unser Vater 1980 starb, haben Eric und Inge freundlicherwei se unsere Mutter Gerda Holfelder für 3 Wochen zu sich in ihr schönes Zuhause in Santa Barbara eingeladen, um sie zu trösten und zu unterstützen. Viele Male hatten Eric and Inge auch uns Kinder und Enkel in Santa Barbara in ihrem schönen Heim wie Familienmitglie der willkommen geheißen, wo wir immer wunderbare Urlaube erleben durften. Gerne erinnern wir uns auch an die vielen Besuche von Eric und Inge in Deutschland, wo wir immer viele schöne gemeinsame Stunden mit ihnen verbringen durften.
In unserer Holfelder Familienchronik , die aus Anlass des 115. Geburtstages unsers Vaters Otto Holfelder kürzlich als Buch gedruckt wurde, berichten wir auf den Seiten 171-177 über das erste Treffen und die gemeinsamen Erlebnisse von unserem Vater mit Eric. Zudem gibt es einen Bericht von Erics Reise nach Deutschland im August 2010 zu seinem Besuch der Bayreuther Festspiele zusammen mit Judy. Die beiden Dokumente haben wir Ron Boehm als PDF geschickt.
Die Großfamilie Holfelder denkt mit sehr viel Dankbarkeit an Eric und seine Familie. Insbesondere die „Kinder“ Ursula Holfelder, Gisela und Jürgen Holfelder, Ingrid und Hans-Dieter Ellsiepen und Gerhard Holfelder sowie die „Enkel“ Beatrix und Tilman Holfelder, Katrin und Ekhart Holfelder, Claudia und Wieland Holfelder, Albrecht Holfelder, Claudia Mehlig und Peter Ellsiepen, Christian und Thomas Holfelder.
When I first met the Boehm family, I was 15 years old. I was going to live with them for a year because I wanted to learn English. They kindly accepted me as an exchange student from México City and, of course, I was excited and homesick.
I was told by my own parents that during that time Eric and Inge Boehm will be my parents and Ron and Steve will be like my own brothers. And they had been that since then. No matter how much time had passed I feel that I am part of the Boehm family and they are part of my family too down here in México.
The first thing Eric told me was that I was like another son to them and that I had to feel free to do what I want (within their own limits of course), asked me if I played checkers, and said that phrase typical of Mexicans “Mi casa es tu casa”. He told me that with his great smile and gave me a hug. My dear Inge smiled too, gave me a kiss and told me, in his new mother’s role, “Tomorrow I will take to you to the barber shop to have a haircut”. It was 1968 and the hippie movement was growing, so I had my hair long feeling I was a member of the rock band The Doors. I felt disappointed but I had to accept.
Over the years, I feel that I have a family in Santa Barbara, no matter if we do not see each other much because we had to build our own life, but we have been in touch always in good or bad times. My parents, Jose Luis and Carmen, became close friends of Eric and Inge. They visited each other occasionally, travel together and wrote letters. Eric keep writing and giving me wise advices about my life and my work. He helped me a lot and I felt always his support, love, and care. So did my dear Inge too.
Now, with both of them in Heaven, I feel their support, love and joy as an example to follow. Of course, I feel sad but I know, from the bottom of my heart that they are my guardian angels.
It is hard to me to accept they are not here anymore, but as long as I think of them, I know they will be living forever in my thought and in my heart. I will remember them as good human beings full of love, tenderness, joy, wisdom and care to help other people.
Eric always with his lips drawing a big smile, making jokes, worried about my well-being, my work, my family, and always, always trying to help me and encourage me to do what I want. It is very difficult to me write some virtues he had because he had too much. He is a gifted man (I will not write about him in past time because he is here with us now), he is a talented and creative business man, a wonderful father, grandfather and great great grandfather, good husband, good friend, he is happy and proud to have a wonderful family; a bunch of intelligent people around him in his life, in his work full of good friends; he is a leader, a man who everybody has to follow, a peaceful soul, intelligent, smart and wise man (although he is not a good checkers player); he is always wanting people to be happy and enjoy life. To me, Eric is great man and an example of what a human being has to do in his life. A Gentleman in the whole extension of the word.
I am sure God called him to cross the rainbow (as we said in our family) because He wanted to have him close to give Him some advice and to make all our friends and relatives, who are now with him in some clouds, very happy and, from up there, take care of all of us who are still here waiting to join them in the supreme light of peace.
I will always love Eric and will have him in my prayers.
Love to all the family and hope to see you soon.
Alejandro García Berumen Segura
2/December/2017