Obituary of Edward Kaliff

Edward Michael Kaliff, son of Michael and Fay Kaliff was born in the Town of Fishkill, Raised and schooled in Beacon.

Upon graduating from Beacon High School in 1941 Ed enrolled in Aero Industries Technical Institute in California.

The institute was set up by the aircraft industries such as Douglas, Northrop, Lockheed, etc. for training in airplane design and construction -much needed in World War II.

Ed graduated with top marks. In a class project for graduation each student had to do a preliminary design for a glider or powered aircraft. Ed chose to do a design for an interceptor fighter plane. This would be a high altitude, heavily armed and with contra rotating propellers at the tail end. This would leave the front end free for a variety of armaments. A copy of the preliminary design was left at the school. A few years later a medium bomber built with the same propeller arrangement appeared built by one of the sponsors and established a cross country speed record.

Ed wondered. But soon the Jet age set in and propeller planes were of less importance to the military.

After graduating from Aero ITI, Ed came back home to Beacon and enlisted in the Army, ending up in the Air Corps as a cadet. He began training in various parts of the country and became a bombardier/navigator on the B-26 Marauder and later on the new A-26 Douglas Invader. The 3 crew A-26 was at the time, faster than any of the fighters in service. Ed was on his way to the Pacific when they dropped the bomb that ended the war.

Back home, Ed married Mary Shalhobe of Utica and enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in Troy, N.Y. Upon graduation, he received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and was lucky enough to get three offers for employment: Texico (Arabia), United Aircraft (Conn.) and IBM (Poughkeepsie) He chose IBM because it was one of the best companies to work for at the time, and it was home in the Hudson Valley.

At IBM, Ed worked in development and Product Engineering, starting on key punches, wire printers, tape drives and magnetic heads and finally systems until his retirement in 1987.

His Hobbies had been designing and building model planes, target shooting, mountain hiking and, starting back in high school, collecting records of great music, beginning with 78 rpm, 33 1/3, tapes, and cd’s.

In 2009 Mary became ill and Ed became caregiver for 5 years with the help of St. Francis Home Care group. When Mary passed away it was the end of 67 years of a wonderful marriage.

The above obituary was written by Edward in his own hand writing in 2016.

Edward’s family would like to thank his wonderful neighbors and friends who gave of their time and support the whole time he lived in his home on Colburn Drive especially acknowledging Davy DeCampo his Burger King buddy. In addition, we thank Health Quest Home Care nurses, PT & OT personnel and especially My Angels Home Care Inc and the six wonderful aides who gave him 24-hour care and became his second family as he faced his health challenges.

We also need to thank the wonderful Hudson Valley Hospice team for their care and compassion in his final days.  

Edward’s Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to Edward’s visitation at the Timothy P. Doyle Funeral Home  371 Hooker Ave. Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 on Saturday, September 7, 2024 from 12 noon – 2:00 p.m. at the conclusion of visitation Edward will have a burial service at Saint Joachims Cemetery 325 Washington Ave, Beacon, NY.