In response to Jerry Dobrovolny’s passing in late October 2017, Bruce Holecek reflected on Dobrovolny’s life with this letter:
Dear Friends of Jerry Dobrovolny,
19 years ago, on 10/30/1998, Jerry and I spent the day visiting, flying, and just having a good time together.
Jerry came over to my home in Quail Creek where I had my 1989 Rolls Royce Corniche convertible parked in the living room—he was impressed. When I told him the story about how I had to personally design and build a bridge over my swimming pool in the backyard to get it in the living room he was really impressed, but not amazed. After all, I had a General Engineering degree from the U of I so... nothing special. Any good Bohemian with a GE degree could handle this!
Jerry suited up in a Nomex flight suit, donned an Air Force helmet, and was ready to go with no hesitation. It was his very first time in an airplane anything like this!
When I gave friends rides in my L-39, I would always start out very gently, and give them the United Airlines “friendly skies” tour of the coastline and do a little sight-seeing. For some friends this was about all they could handle, but for others this was just a warm-up for seeing what this L-39 and they could do. Aerobatics are made up of two fundamental components: pulling G forces and rolling maneuvers. I would carefully and progressively test each passenger for their tolerance of these two maneuvers. Depending upon their tolerance of each, I was able to determine what kind of maneuvers we would fly. For example, to do a loop in an L-39 requires pulling 4 G’s for an extended period of time (the loop is 4,000 feet in diameter) and during the 1st and 4th quadrant we are pulling 4 G’s for what seems like an eternity. Over the top in quadrants 2 and 3 we get very light and are literally floating at the top with no G forces on us. Your stomach really gets disoriented! The rolls really screw up the gyros in your brain! This is the ultimate roller-coaster ride where the world goes upside down and all around. Combined high G pulling with rolling REALLY messes with your mind and body BIG TIME!!!
Oh, the 2nd “friend” that could take everything I could dish out was my son, Justin. Jerry and my son were the ONLY two passengers I ever took up that could handle everything I could dish out before me blacking out (and that is not good!). I guess it comes as no surprise as Jerry and my son were both good Bohemians!
After flying, we went back to my house in Quail Creek, and Jerry was firing on all 8 cylinders—no motion sickness or after- effects at all. Absolutely amazing! Jerry, never missing an opportunity to help the GE department, then told me about some “chair” he was funding for the department, and said he needed some financial help in funding it. In his very direct Dobrovolny way, he told me a little about it and cut right to the bottom line—he wanted me to donate $100,000 to his chair. When Dobrovolny says, “jump,” you say, “how high?” … So I wrote him a check. He also told me that he was going to Prague in a few weeks, so I gave him several packs of brand new $2 bills to use as tip and spending money in the “fatherland”—be good and generous to your fellow Bohock!!!
May God hold him in the palm of His hand and give him eternal peace and happiness in Heaven.
—Bruce