November 16, 1926 - May 7, 2025
Born November 16, 1926 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he was the youngest of 6 children born to Hungarian immigrants, Anna (Soos) and Alexander Balogh. Growing up in the Depression he ran a trapline and hunted and fished to help support his family. Graduating high school in 1944 and coming of age in WWII, he entered the war effort attending the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. In early 1945, at the age of 18, due to wartime needs, the Academy shipped his class out after only months of study for a six month on-ship internship. However, the Academy promptly “lost” his class; he served 18 months on various ships delivering vital wartime and postwar time supplies mainly on the Somme, a T2 tanker. He sailed in the WWII Battle of the Atlantic among other hardships. Returning to the Academy to finish his degree, his “lost” class was specially titled “Company G” separating them from the new recruits who had not served in battle. He graduated in 1948 earning a B.S. in engineering, a commission in the U.S. Merchant Marine, and a commission in the U.S. Naval reserves. Belatedly, in 2020, the U.S. Congress recognized the vital role that the Merchant Marine played in WWII, awarding WWII Merchant Marine Veterans the highest honor the U.S. Congress can bestow, the Congressional Gold Medal.
After the war, he met and married his wife, Jean Kathryn Cannon of Allentown, PA (July 27, 1928 - February 5, 2023). Their marriage lasted 71 years. After their whirlwind courtship and marriage, they eventually headed west to California driving Route 66. In Los Angeles, Ernie secured an engineering job at Douglas Aircraft. In the early ‘60’s he switched to Lockheed Aerospace in Sunnyvale, Ca. where he headed up the 200 employee Polaris/Poseidon Missiles Manuals Department. In 1970 the family settled in the Rogue Valley.
In Medford, he and Jean eventually bought, repaired, and ran the Oakdale Laundromat which is still a neighborhood institution. With his brother Alexander, he built a second laundromat. Later, he and Jean built the first mini storage in the Rogue Valley, All Your Treasures Mini Storage. Facing stagflation in the 70’s and early 80’s while undertaking these entrepreneurial projects, Ernie worked a variety of jobs, but his favorite was training neurodivergent and down-on-their-luck people appliance repair at Goodwill. Ernie was a natural teacher. Many years later, a former student told him, “I’ve had a lifelong career because of you.” In July 1976 Goodwill burned down prompting Ernie to start his core business, Balogh Enterprises, a commercial restaurant equipment repair company.
Ernie converted to Catholicism in his early 20’s and he and Jean were fully involved in their Catholic faith. They were founding members of two Catholic churches. First, in Sunnyvale, CA, where as a founding board member, Ernie helped build the Church of the Resurrection. He and Jean were also founding members of Shepherd of the Valley Church in Central Point. Ernie and Jean were also parishioners of Sacred Heart Church and he was a long-time member of the Knights of Columbus. He and his wife are buried at the Eagle Point National Cemetery.