Donald Edson

Donald Samuel Edson, was born on March 24, 1918 in Minneapolis, MN to Pauline Augusta (Harwardt) Edson and Samuel Lloyd Edson and died on June 30, 2017 in Phoenix, AZ at 99 years and 3 months. He was married to Barbara Jean (Hoxter) Edson for 39 years before her death in 1988. He then married Ruth Eileen Dahlberg and they were married for 19 years until her death in 2007. He is survived by his daughters; Mary (Eddee) Edson of Portand, Oregon and Belle A. Edson of Phoenix, AZ. And he is also survived by his very special friend Jennifer A. Linde of Tempe, AZ.

As a small boy in Minneapolis he worked in his parents’ corner grocery stores. His first job was printing sale items on the windows as he had learned the Palmer method of printing and writing and he was quite proud of his penmenship for his entire life. When he was bigger he delivered groceries to elderly people who lived in apartments around the stores. He went to Emerson School for elementary school and then to the old Central High School where he graduated in 1937. During his high school years he developed an intense love of cars, buying and selling over 62 cars in his lifetime. He also attended Hamline University in 1939 and again in 1946. Don served in the Army Air Corps during WW II where he was stationed in the China, Burma, India theatre. At the end of the war he returned to Minneapolis where he assisted his parents in their stores until he rejoined the newly formed Air Force as a recruiter. As a recruiter he met Barbara his first wife. Their marriage included Belle and Mary and moving to Whitemen Air Force Base, then to Houghton, Michigan where he taught ROTC for his last six years in the military. He decided to make the Air Force his career and stayed in for 25 years, retiring in 1965 as a Master’s Sargent.

After he retired, Don moved his family to Wayzata, MN where he was employed as a Veteran Service Officer for the State of Minnesota. In 1968 he bought a motel in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and moved his family to Grand Rapids and renamed the motel from the KG Motel to the Americana Motel.

Upon moving to Grand Rapids he became very involved with the Chamber of Commerce, the Total Community Development Committee, and was active in the Kiwanis Club as local president and then Lt. Governor of the Six state District of Kiwanis.

Don loved to travel, having been to China, Burma, and India during the war and then adding most of Europe after he retired in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In addition, he often visited his daughters who lived in a variety of places in the US, and he was always up for a driving road trip to see his daughters or old friends.

Church was a very important part of Don’s life from the time he was small when Mr. Victor Chamberlain would pick him and others up and take them to First Baptist Church in Minneapolis for Sunday School classes. He believed his fondness for classical music and organ music came from these outings with Mr. Chamberlain to church and other venues around Minneapolis. His love of church continued for his life and he served on the Board of Trustees for the Community Presbyterian church in Grand Rapids, and also was the Chair of the Trustees at Asbury Methodist Church in Bloomington twice.

One of Don’s most cherished qualities was his ability to maintain and sustain friendships which he did all of his life. His best friend of over 70 years was Lyle Buckridge who passed away in 2003. He had a close relationship with his nephew Ronnie Kuffel who passed away just this past year. Keith Karrasch, Mary Shidler and Don and Jill Milette were friends from across the US from his military service years and his retired years in Grand Rapids, MN.

After Barbara died in 1988 he moved to Minneapolis and married Eileen Dahlberg and together they had 19 years. During those years he was very involved with Ashbury Methodist church and also drove and delivered Meals on Wheels for the elderly. Upon Eileen’s death in 2007 he moved to Phoenix to be closer to his oldest daughter Belle. He had many wonderful years in Phoenix, attending ASU women’s basketball games; attending concerts and the symphony with Belle. He lived first at Friendship Village in Tempe in independent living and then moved into assisted living finally living his last two years at Emerald Grove Central in Mesa, AZ. He was well loved and taken care of by his “girl gang” which consisted of Belle and Mary, Jennifer, Cindy, Alba, Liz, Kara, Rebekah, Sarah and Marsha. With some assistance in the form of muscles and chocolate from France—Josh, Dan, Brad and Frederic. It certainly takes a ‘village’ to care for an old guy. He will be terribly missed!