Low-key woodworker has an interesting story

When you drop in to the wood shop at the West Center on one of the days Lawrence “Larry” Telegdy monitors, you will find a pleasant, spectacled 65-year-old man ambling among the 20 work tables who is willing to offer advice on projects.

If you have a friendly chat with Larry, try to pry out of him his amazing life story — he being reluctant to talk about it unless asked.

At 17, Telegdy wanted to join the Air Force but dad, Edward Sr., demurred. No problem; he persuaded older brother Edward Jr. to omit the junior part and vouch for him by signing the necessary papers. Larry entered the Air Force for a four-year hitch.

When he returned to civilian life, his father was able to get him a job at National Acme Co., an industrial engineering firm in Cleveland where he worked. One night in 1967, after their night shifts, father and son left for home in separate cars, Edward Sr. trailing.

Once on Interstate 2, Larry suspected an engine problem and pulled onto the shoulder. His dad did likewise and approached his son, inquiring, “What’s wrong?”

“Something with the motor,” he replied. Those were the last words Larry spoke for the next 34 days. A drunken driver plowed into the Telegdys, killing Edward Sr. and crushing Larry’s legs as he was hurled skidding down the highway for 175 feet, according to the police report.

Larry lapsed into a coma and never knew what hit him till he awoke in a hospital more than a month later.

After extensive rehabilitation to learn how to walk again on his reconstructed legs (the once strapping six-footer lost four inches in height), that horrendous accident caused him to develop amnesia. This unexpected occurrence dragged the calamity on for another excruciating 15 years.

Even worse: he was declared dead more than once due to severe internal injuries suffered in the accident but was brought back to life by medical specialists.

Although doctors told him he would never walk again, Telegdy’s indomitable fortitude said otherwise. He regained enough physical strength to depart Cleveland’s harsh climate and migrate to California where he met his wife, Nancy, who is from Ventura. They moved to Simi Valley and now into Green Valley retirement.

Telegdy eventually became a journeyman tool and die maker which enabled him to easily adapt to woodworking and carving, his favorite hobbies. However, bowling — big in his Ohio youth — is but a memory.

Of his three children from his first marriage, two remain in Ohio.

If time does heal everything, Telegdy is the epitome of that old saw as he moves gingerly among woodworkers with enthusiasm, helpfulness and a well-deserved aura of invincibility.