John Sohre

"Ware, John Sohre, 82, of Lakeview Circle, died peacefully on April 14 at his home. Born in Chemnitz, Germany in 1927 he lived in Ware since 1975. John was predeceased by his wife Nora of 58 years and will be deeply missed by his son Tom and his wife Pat of Hampden. He leaves two grandchildren, Laura and Brendon, as well as a brother Herbert and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother William. He will be deeply missed by several wonderful and loving caregivers who did so much to make his last years peaceful, happy and comfortable. John gave unconditional love to his family, spending many years helping and caring for his wife Nora as she became a victim of Alzheimer's. John loved and was a strong believer in the USA, was very grateful to be here and enduringly thankful for the considerable help this country gave to him and his struggling family. One of the most important lessons he passed on was that it was always best to take care of the difficult things in life first, before they grew and became even harder to contend with. A past president of the Beaver Lake Association, he worked very hard to get Beaver Lake protected from over-development, a goal that was recently achieved when it became part of a trust. He loved music (especially opera), could sing very well, play almost any instrument by ear. He and Nora were great dancers, smiled and laughed often, and always enjoyed good company. Sturbridge Village and Mystic Seaport were some of John's favorite destinations. Although a proud, powerful man later in life, adventurous, generous to a fault, and a German engineer to the core; John's life got off to a rocky start. In the years following his birth the great depression hit, his mother died and father became incapacitated, Hitler arrived on the scene and his country plunged into the chaos and horror of six years of war, ending in Russian occupation. Except for his aunt Eleanor, he and his younger brother were abandoned by nearly all who should have been looking out for them. During the last months of war, he served briefly in the german airforce, followed by a POW camp. Following WWII, John was a railroad and street car mechanic, and managed to get through the equivalent of a 4 year engineering program in 1 year, while at the same time courting his future wife (Nora, a beautiful red-head) and caring for and raising his younger brother. He and Nora soon married and proved to be perfect matches for each other in the trying times to come. They managed to get the family out of East Germany and via some refugee camps immigrated to the USA, once again with the help of John's aunt Eleanor and her husband Charles. John quickly adapted to his new home, worked his ass off, and became a technician for Detroit Steel in Ohio where he learned to swear in English and bought a Packard. Following that, the family moved to Pennsylvania where John became a senior compressor designer at Elliott Company, and bought another Packard. Subsequently he became Chief Engineer at Terry Steam Turbine of Windsor, CT. There he was personally responsible for, and designed a state-of-the-art test facility, and also designed a new line of innovative, high performance mechanical-drive steam turbines. Many of these machines are still in service driving high speed compressors in refineries, or making electricity in power stations. Afterward he became an internationally recognized turbomachinery consultant, troubleshooting machinery world-wide, and writing technical papers still used and cited today. One of his proudest moments was to give the very first paper at the very first Texas A&M Turbomachinery Symposium. Later he and Nora founded Sohre Turbomachinery and invented its initial product, a turbomachinery accessory which makes equipment safer and more reliable. The company's products have been used on every continent, and are on the international space station. As a consultant and together with Nora, he participated in several State Department sponsored trips to the USSR, China, Vietnam, and other countries as these began to develop routine contacts with the USA. He loved to visit the Quabbin and Mt. Sugarloaf. A funeral service to honor John's life will be on Saturday April 17 at the Beers & Story Funeral Home, 1475 N. Main St. (Rte. 20), Palmer. Calling hours are from 2-3 prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in John's memory to the Quaboag Valley VNA and Hospice, 42B Wright Street., Palmer, MA 01069. For more information or to access an online guest book, please visit www.beersandstory.com. "