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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Edward Burg special man to family and friends

Carl Gidlund Correspondent

Edward Burg lived a life of quiet giving, to his country, his fellow man, and to his family.

When he died Dec. 17 of Alzheimer’s disease, the 83-year-old retired engineer left a great gap in the Post Falls philanthropic community.

Ed Burg wasn’t a rich man, so he gave of himself – to the men and women whose social life centers around the city’s senior center where he set tables, picked up donated food and called numbers for raffles; to the Community Presbyterian Church, where he served as head usher for many years; and to the Post Falls Lions, where he was involved in virtually every service enterprise sponsored by his club.

Ed’s widow, Annie, is the family historian, chronicling her late husband’s long life for their five children, 31 grandkids and 34 great grandchildren.

He grew up during the Great Depression so, like most youngsters of that era, Ed knew hard work. While still in grammar school, he weeded row after row of vegetables on his grandparents’ Illinois farm.

After school and chores, his grandmother, a schoolteacher, tutored him in math and spelling, providing a supplemental education that would benefit him all his working life.

When he was a young teen the family moved to Minneapolis for better opportunities. There he worked after school and weekends at the American Can Co., following the lead of his father, a tool and die maker.

It was there, too, that he began to love the outdoors. Despite the demands of school and work, he became an avid boater, fisherman and hunter. And, through Scouts and church outings, he became a good swimmer, too.

Coached by his dad, Ed moved through the chairs in his lodge until he became a 32nd degree Mason.

Drafted into the Army at age 21, he was trained as a telephone lineman, then shipped overseas, first to North Africa, and then to France, where he was wounded in the leg and hand by a shell burst.

He recovered at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, but then was shipped to the Pacific, one of the relatively few GIs to serve in both major theaters of World War II.

After his discharge in February 1946, Ed worked as a mechanic for an auto and farm equipment dealer in Darlington, Wis. There he met and wooed Annie Jean.

Another move to Minneapolis followed, and a job in the mechanical division of General Mills.

Then came what Annie calls “the opportunity of a lifetime.” The North American Aviation Corp. was looking for mechanical engineers and Ed, who’d learned that profession through practical experience, was hired.

Annie and Ed piled into their Dodge coupe with 3-year-old Eddie, 2-year-old Joanne and Allen, 3 months. They camped their way to Downey, Calif., towing all their possessions in their Sears trailer.

For the next 36 years, the Burgs called Southern California home, adding Jan and James to their brood.

With North American, and then North American Rockwell, Ed applied his engineering skills to the furtherance of America’s space program, working as a quality control manager on projects associated with the early Mercury flights up through the Apollo rockets, and finally the space shuttle.

Despite the demands of his job, Annie says, he made time for his family and his church, plus Indian Guides, Scouting, little league, picnicking and – his most favorite of all pastimes – waltzing with his wife.

Following his retirement from Rockwell, Zwick Research Engineering, another aerospace firm, recruited Ed to demonstrate one of its products, a nitrogen service cart, to the Air Force.

That job took Ed, and sometimes Annie, to Air Force bases across the U.S. and Canada, then to England, France and Australia.

Eight years of that kind of travel was enough so, 15 years ago, they followed their children, Joanne and Jan, who’d settled in North Idaho with their families, into a real retirement in Post Falls.

It was real, that is, except for the volunteer work to which Ed devoted himself in his last years.

A church friend, John Mackesy, salutes Ed for his contributions to the River City and its residents: “He was so involved with the Lions, our church and the senior center. It’s going to be a struggle without him.”

And Art and Jerri Wood, who have known the Burgs for the past 14 years, recall many happy hours of dinners, dancing and socializing.

“He was fun and exceptionally intelligent. I really miss him,” says Art.

Ruth and Ken Johnson, friends of the Burgs throughout their North Idaho residence, describe Ed as cheerful, calm and loving. “I never saw him mad, and he never said anything bad about anyone,” says Ruth.

“Also,” she says, “he was terrific with children, and he treated his daughter Joanne Harner’s many foster children in just the same loving a way he treated his blood grandchildren.”

Ken, also retired from the aerospace industry, but with Martin-Marietta and Thiokol, had many conversations with Ed about projects they’d worked on separately.

“He was a brilliant man,” says Ken. “I had the utmost respect for his knowledge and accomplishments.”

His daughter Joanne says, “Everyone who knew him will miss his baby blue eyes and his warm, wonderful smile.”

But Annie, Ed’s wife of 56 years, perhaps captures her husband’s life best: “The world has lost one very special man, but heaven is rejoicing.”