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TAMPA - He was black, so he was told he couldn't pursue his dream of flying. His response: become a fighter pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military airmen in the United States.
He was black, so he was told he couldn't own his own business. He went on to become the first licensed black electrician in Tampa and opened a successful business.
He was black, so he was told he couldn't take his children to Lowry Park Zoo. He sued the city, resulting in a 1962 federal order to desegregate Tampa's parks and recreational facilities.
In work and in life Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler never settled for less than equality. He believed no one should. Bohler, a father and grandfather, died Friday, as a result of brain injuries from a fall nearly two years ago. He was 82.
"My husband was the type of person who, when he said he was going to do something, that was it," said Clifford Marie Bohler, his wife of 59years. "He did it."
Bohler was born in Augusta, Ga., in 1925 and joined the Army Air Forces when he was 17. At just 109 pounds, he was one pound shy of the weight requirement for pilots, but he persuaded them to let him in anyway.
He trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama and learned to fly the P-51 Mustang. He wanted to fight the enemy in World War II, but by the time he earned his wings in 1944, the military didn't need more pilots. Bohler served in the military until 1947, when he left the service as a second lieutenant. He finished college at Hampton University, in Hampton, Va.
He met his future wife in his hometown.
"I was in nursing school and my aunt owned an ice cream shop," Clifford Marie Bohler said. "He came in, and the rest is history."
Bohler said her husband was very determined and "wouldn't take no for an answer."
"He was a no-nonsense person."
So when the Bohlers decided to take their three children to Lowry Park Zoo in 1960, Clifford Marie Bohler knew what could happen. Zoo employees told the family blacks weren't allowed there and asked them to leave. Bohler sued the city.
He won in 1962 when a federal judge ordered Tampa to desegregate its parks and recreational facilities. During the two years it took for the suit to wind its way through court, he was harassed.
Bohler was routinely pulled over by police who would check his car and driver's license, The Tampa Tribune reported in 1960. The morning he was to appear in federal court, he was pulled over five times.
Police ticketed him for speeding. Later, at his court appearance for the violation, Bohler said it was "impossible" for him to be speeding on the named street because the officer testified that both he and Bohler had slowed at a nearby street for a truck and went slowly over a bump in the road. He couldn't have sped up enough to be speeding by the time he made it to the next street.
At the time, Bohler told the Tribune the judge said the officer must have mistakenly wrote down the wrong street. The officer agreed, and the judge changed the complaint and found Bohler guilty. He was fined $10.
In later years, Bohler and other area Tuskegee Airmen spoke at area schools, and he was an inspiration to local pilots.
Jackie Beiro, a pilot and friend of the family runs a nonprofit, Noble Aviation.
Last week, the group held an event at Hillsborough Community College to honor three Bay area Tuskegee Airmen, particularly Bohler, who was the only living member of the group in Tampa.
"We had no idea we were running out of time," Beiro said. "Six days later, he's gone. He's had an impact on a lot of people. You just mention his name in the community, and people remember him."
Until he became ill, Bohler never missed the annual reunions of the Tuskegee Airmen. He'd fly his own Piper Archer to the events, held in various cities throughout the country.
His flying stopped when he was 80 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, his wife said. Shortly thereafter, he fell while working in his garage at his east Tampa home and hit his head. The family didn't realize the injury had caused bleeding on the brain.
Soon afterward, acquaintances noticed Bohler stumbling during his daily five-mile walk at the Middleton High School track. They brought him home.
"I was so scared," Clifford Marie Bohler said. "He never said another word. It was terrible."
Bohler went to the hospital and never came home. He stayed in a couple of medical facilities before moving to one in Wesley Chapel.
Bohler is survived by his wife, two sons, George Bohler and Henry Bohler Jr., and his daughter, Pamela Sampson. He had seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations for youth scholarships be sent to Tuskegee Airman Inc., P.O. Box 9166 Arlington, VA 22219.
