Ed

Ed

We first met at the St. Paul Seminary in the fall of 1966. I was starting my second year of theology and Ed just arrived from Helena, Montana to start his first year. Together we were studying for the priesthood. Little did I know that how our lives would intertwine over the coming years.

 I was ordained in 1970 and lost contact with Ed. He had one more year of seminary before moving back to Montana. I was busy learning the ropes of pastoral life in a parish. From time to time I would hear how Ed was doing but we had lost touch. On a snowy evening in late 1976 Ed appeared at the door of the lodge Judy and I were running in the Bridger Mountains north of Bozeman. He heard that I had left the priesthood, married and moved to Montana.

Ed had left the priesthood and was working in Bozeman. We were able to spend time together during those years. I met his fiancée, Deborah and officiated at there wedding. As time went on and Judy and I moved back and forth between Minnesota and Montana, Ed and I purposed to stay in touch.

It came as a shock when I heard Ed was in the hospital. He wasn’t feeling well and ended up in the ER where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. The antibiotics didn't help and within two days his kidneys shut down and he died. I could not believe it. My good friend of forty-five years was gone. He was my link to those seminary years. We would periodically have lunch at the country club and reminisce of those days and share the latest gossip about classmates and the state of the church.

This has been a year of loss for me. Good friends and mentors have gone on to be with the Lord. Ed was a special friend. He was not just a part of my past; he was a Renaissance man. He was a gifted painter, preacher, counselor, conversationalist and healer. He told stories like Garrison Keller and he was a compassionate hospital chaplain. He was flawed like the rest of us but he was a unique. I miss him much.

Requiescat In Pace Ed.