By Marie Pfeifer
When I interviewed George Eberhardt on his 103rd birthday he attributed his longevity to oatmeal cookies and orange juice. Recently, when I asked him that same question, at 107 years old, he credited his wife, Marie, for the extra special loving attention and care that she gives him.
I was a young mother when I first met George Eberhardt, many years ago, on the public tennis courts in Mendham Borough while learning to play tennis with my three young children. He walked onto the court, introduced himself and said, “It would be a lot easier to serve if you held the racquet like you are shaking hands with it.”
That was the first of many informal lessons he stopped by to give us. Of course, his sense of humor always came into play during these sessions. He especially enjoyed his stand-up comic routines through his puns and word games.
George Eberhardt, 107, with his wife Marie, 88, in June 2012 at memorial service for author John Cunningham in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
At the time George was giving tennis lessons at the Morristown Field Club and the Morris County Golf Club in Morris Township. As a sideline he also maintained tennis courts at private homes and clubs on a part-time basis. Retirement beckoned at the age of 91 after 30 years in the business.
Tennis has been a lifelong affair for George. As a young man he was a linesman at Asbury Park Convention Hall, where he occasionally had an opportunity to play with Bill Tilden and Francis Hunter in the 1930s. He gave up playing tennis at the age of 94.
George enjoyed a 44-year career as an engineer at AT&T Bell Labs. His specialty was antennas; he spent 13 years traveling around the country troubleshooting for the Nike Zeus Missile project. He solved a problem with the missile-tracking antennas by covering them with a plastic sheath to prevent water from seeping into them. He helped establish radio-telephone communications between the United States and Europe and between New York and Buenos Aires.
George recalls the time he spent in Argentina helping IT&T install telephone service between South America and the rest of the world.
“It took almost a year to install a huge antenna. When it was completely installed a vicious windstorm came up and wrecked the whole thing!”
Video: George reflects on his first 107 years
An offer at Drew University to rebuild an ailing language laboratory coincided with George’s retirement from AT&T in 1966. He left a lasting legacy when he restored and saved recordings – some going back to the turn of the century, including Edison wax cylinder recordings and World War II wire recordings – as well as recordings of famous luminaries who appeared on campus, all the while helping students with their projects.
Today this work, called the George Eberhardt Audio Collection, is found in the Drew University archives.
George never stopped achieving. Drew University recognized his many talents with an honorary science degree in 1994. On his 100th birthday, Drew bestowed immortality on George by naming an undergraduate dormitory Eberhardt Hall, thereby ensuring his Drew connection will outlive him. He actively worked there for 37 years but never officially retired.
“When I turned 100 years old, they asked me to stop climbing on the ladder,” he said.
His goal is to live to 120. He just may do that. He walks indoors without assistance but uses a cane outdoors. His general health and recuperative powers are amazing. He was diagnosed with Type B Lymphoma in 2004. Chemotherapy put the cancer in remission. He also has diabetes that is kept in check with medication.
George’s DNA was donated to the Archon Genomics X PRIZE 100 over 100 Competition. Archon solicited DNA from 100 centenarians, providing a unique opportunity to identify those “rare genes” that protect against disease while giving researchers valuable clues to health and longevity.
George’s wife of 70 years, Marie, is 88 and still drives him to the Chester Library’s Lunch and Learn series. Last month they came to the Morristown United Methodist Church for the memorial service for author John Cunningham, who was just three years shy of the century mark.
The Eberhardts have five children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. George also has two children from his first marriage, along with six grandchildren, sixteen great grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
I look forward to interviewing George on his 120th birthday. Before that, I’m signed up for his 110th!!
BUILT TO LAST: George and Marie Eberhardt, 107 and 88, respectively. Photo by Marie Pfeifer
GEORGE’S HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LAST 107 YEARS:
Q – Who was the greatest tennis player of the last 107 years?
A – Bill Tilden because he was noted for having a powerful serve and for returning the most balls over the net. He was noted as the best tennis player in 1930.
Q – Who was the greatest baseball player?
A – Babe Ruth. He used to point to where he was going to send the ball and it would go there.
Q – Who was the greatest actor/actress/movie?
A – The Barrymores – John, Ethel and the 1954 film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Q – Who was the greatest entertainer?
A – Harold Lloyd, a comedian best remembered for his daredevil act as a young man desperately dangling from a clock tower in the 1923 film, Safety Last.
Q – What was the greatest invention?
A – The telephone because it connected us to the outside world. But then, the automobile because it changed the way we lived.
Q – What was your most memorable event?
A – When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in July 1969.
Q – What memories do you have of the Titanic?
A – It was the first active use of SOS. Although, it was to no avail that night since radio operators were not required to be awake at night. Due to the tragedy, radio operators have since been required to be on duty 24/7.
Q – What was the first airplane you ever saw?
A – In Oil City, PA, there was a flying circus. For $5 you had an opportunity to ride in an airplane, known as the Jenny, a biplane with an open cockpit. As you looked down through the floorboards you could see the terrain below.
Q – What was your impression of the first radio?
A – George built his first crystal radio at the age of 14. He also installed the first family telephone line on Old Mill Road in Chester Township by hooking it into an existing line down the road.
Q – The first movie?
A – For 5 cents you could see the Perils of Pauline at the local movie theater.
Q – Who was the most famous person you ever met?
A – Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for invention of the radio telegraph system.
Q – If you had it to do over what would you do differently?
A – Without hesitation, George would have gone to college.
Q – Who is the one person you wish you had met?
A – Alexander Graham Bell.