Emil Cwach

Emil Ernest Cwach passed away peacefully July 30th, 2020.  He died from cancer.  He was a very strong, quiet man and modest of his many accomplishments.

Emil was born August 3, 1937 in South Dakota to a large farming family of Czech decent.  His education started in a one room schoolhouse often taught by family members and continued on to the Air Force Academy where he graduated as a member of the first class.  He is in the Yankton High School Athletic Hall of Fame for his football career and played for the AFA Falcons in the 1959 Cotton Bowl.  His Air Force career included piloting F-100s and F-105s during the Vietnam war, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters.  Later he completed a Master’s Degree and PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas - Austin.  He went on to work for General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin on multiple projects including the F-16 and Titan Missile programs.  He thoroughly enjoyed his engineering friends.

In 1957 Emil fell in love with Marlin Day, his blind date at a Cadet dance at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.  They were matched up by height.  Now after almost 60 years of marriage, he is survived by her and their three daughters Andrea, Lynn and Emily, ten grandchildren and two great-granchildren.

Emil was always an avid gardener often sharing bags of grapes, asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, raspberries etc. with friends and neighbors.  A natural offshoot of that was making his garlic dill pickles that made you sweat and helping Marlin cook loads of zucchini bread.  He loved to play golf, bridge and poker with friends.  He built furniture, could fix most anything, and laughed loudly at corny jokes.

But his greatest joy was family, his face lighting up at family dinners and gatherings.  He fished with his daughters, built stilts, and taxied to athletic events.  His grandchildren took great pride in their grandfather’s accomplishments and followed by example.  They laughed at how he read their calculus textbooks like an entertaining novel and had to ask him to return it to them to finish their homework.  Many shared his love of math early on and followed him into math related careers.

Emil’s memory is always in our hearts and he is greatly missed.  We will think of him the next time we eat a spicy pickle, wonder at the accomplishments of men in air flight, or play a good round of golf.  He was well loved and lived a full life.

Services will be held at a later date at Fort Logan National Cemetery.