Virgil C. Derlach

VENTURA, Calif. - Virgil Calvin Gerlach, 82, known to all as Calvin, passed away in a Ventura California hospital on Jan. 14, 2007, after a month long hospitalization. All four of his children were present at his passing.

Mr. Gerlach was born Dec. 1, 1924, in Harrisburg, Pa., but was soon brought by his mother, Natalie Gerlach, to the Gerlach home on Maryland Avenue in Cambridge.

While still very young he and his mother moved to Mt. Holly, near Cambridge, where they lived until about 1940. At that time they moved to 405 Dorchester Ave., where they lived through his high school years. While attending Cambridge Senior High School he earned three stripes for athletics. After high school he went to the Art Center School in Los Angeles where he studied photography under the renowned Ansel Adams.

In 1942, he entered the U.S. Army where he was sent to the Army School of Roentgenology (X-ray) becoming a trained technician. He then served in Manila in the Philippines in that capacity and also as an instructor of photography. After the war, the Army posted him to a prisoner of war camp for Germans in Okmulgee, Okla. It was there that he met and married Sue Lindsey. While in Okmulgee, he opened and operated a photography studio.

His interest in film began as a boy. While still in Mt. Holly, at age 12, he made a black and white movie called "King of the West" featuring Bill Fraley. Later, he produced the black and white "Redcoat Dispatch" about George Washington"s trek in the French and Indian War.

His good friends, Carl and Bobby Hammond, joined him in this juvenile yet successful venture, which was largely filmed in Williamsburg, Va. It was given its world premiere at the Williamsburg Inn with the governor of Virginia in attendance. His final Dorchester County film was in color and called "The Swamp Fox," starring his friend Carl, with Bobby as cinematographer. The subject of the film was General Francis Marion, hero of the Revolutionary War. In the film he used boys from Scout Troop 159 as soldiers. While in Oklahoma, he produced a color western called "Disputed Territory."

In 1948, he and Sue, with their newborn son, Cal Jr., moved to the Hollywood-Los Angeles area where he became the story editor in a newly formed motion picture studio called Enterprise. He later became a free-lance writer and did original scripts for Walt Disney. Several of his stories became episodes on "Death Valley Days," hosted by Ronald Reagan. He also became an executive with a major chain of motion picture theaters until his retirement in the 1980s.

Mr. Gerlach is survived by his wife and two sons, Calvin Jr., Christopher, and two daughters, Deborah and Carolyn; by numerous grandchildren and a few great-grandchildren, and his brother, Ken Gerlach, who still resides in Cambridge.

Mr. Gerlach was cremated and the family plans to have a memorial service at a future date.