Herb Oles; Hospital Volunteer

Herbert D. (Herb) Oles, who overcame a debilitating injury to begin a second career as a hospital volunteer, has died. He was 55.

Oles, a longtime North Hills resident, died at his home Wednesday of a heart attack, said his sister, Marion LaChance of Arleta.

Born in Newburgh, N.Y., Oles came to California as a child, settling with his family in the San Fernando Valley. After high school, he studied briefly at Cal State Northridge before joining the U.S. Air Force in the early 1960s, where he worked as a jet mechanic.

Following his discharge, Oles went to work in his father’s Van Nuys hardware store, remaining there for nearly a decade until he had what he referred to as “the accident.”

Vacationing in New York state in August of 1975, Oles was teaching his then 4-year-old daughter to dive in an above-ground pool when he slipped from a ladder and tumbled into the water head first.

“I went right to the bottom and hit the top of my head, and as far as I know, that’s all she wrote,” Oles recalled years later. “I was paralyzed at that instant.”

His back broken, Oles was paralyzed from the chest down with feeling in his arms but not his fingers. After a lengthy convalescence in New York and Los Angeles, he began attending thrice-weekly treatments at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Hospital’s spinal-cord injury clinic.

Oles became a volunteer in the medical center following his recovery, making deliveries, greeting patients and gathering supplies for nearly 15 years. For the past three years, he competed with the Sepulveda Road Runners, a team of wheelchair athletes based at the hospital.

In August, the Road Runners participated in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in San Antonio, winning 23 medals, including Oles’ gold in the slalom competition. The team was honored in a ceremony at the hospital last week.

“Just because you’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean life stops,” he told The Times in 1987. “I’m just invigorated with energy to give to other people and there’s nothing greater than to get a smile from someone else.”

In addition to his sister, Oles is survived by his wife of 26 years, Shirley; a daughter, Jody Lee Oles, of Van Nuys; and his parents, Joseph and Lena Oles of Van Nuys.

A memorial service will be held today at noon in the chapel of the VA Hospital, 16111 Plummer St., North Hills. Bastian & Perrott Mortuary in Northridge is handling the arrangements. According to the family, donations may be made in Oles’ name to the Sepulveda Road Runners in care of the hospital.