Ed attended Margaret Park School in Akron from Kindergarden through the Fifth Grade. He then transferred to Saint Peters Catholic School when the parish opened its new parish school. Ed completed elementary school at Saint Peters, graduating in 1952.

When Ed was 10-years old, his father, who was only 30-years old, passed away from cancer, leaving a wife and three young children behind. Three years later, while Ed was in his final year of elementary school, his mother remarried.

Following Ed's graduation from grade school, the family moved to Stow Township, a few miles north of Akron. He started his Freshman high school year at Stow High School.

Ed was active in the Stow High School Band throughout his high school years. Ed started taking private trumpet lessons at eight-years old and continued private study on the instrument into his second year of high school. Stow's band was known far and wide during those years as one of the better high school bands in Northeastern Ohio.

In addition to the high school band, Ed played in his grandfather's German Polka Band on weekends and through the Summers. The band played for old country style weddings and Summer picnics for the large population of displaced persons from Europe who settled in and around the Akron area in the years following World War II.

Ed enlisted in the Naval Air Reserve at Naval Air Station, Akron, Ohio at the age of 17, one year prior to graduating from high school. During his Senior year, he attended reserve drills one weekend a month.

In May 1956 he graduated from Stow High School. A few months after graduation he volunteered for call to active duty in the Navy's TAR (Training and Administration of Reserves) program, where he served continuously until his retirement from naval service in 1976. His last duty assignment was with the Naval Air Reserve Unit, Point Mugu, California on board the Pacific Missle Test Center.

Upon his retirement from military service, Ed temporarily settled in Port Hueneme, California. He immediately enrolled in Ventura Community College as a full-time student on the G.I. Bill.

A year after retiring, he moved to Humboldt County, California along the California north coast. He continued his college education at College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California.

He received an Associate of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts from College of the Redwoods in February 1978 and transferred to Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. At Humboldt State he majored in History with a concentration in era World War II. He also carried a Special Emphasis Phase in the Ethnic Studies Department in Native American Studies.

Due to a family emergency, he was forced to drop out of college in 1980 just 12 units short of receiving his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. Though he planned to some day return to college to complete his degree, circumstances have thus far prevented him from doing so.

During the Summer months while attending college, Ed worked as a Seasonal Park Aid in the Maintenance Division at Patricks Point State Park in Trinidad, California. He also spent two seasons working on a trail maintenance and blazing crew in the Redwood forests along California's north coast.

While attending college at Humboldt State, Ed became active in the Arcata Youth Football Association. He coached the Arcata Kittens, a group of 12 to 14-year olds for three years, two as an assistant and the last year as the Head Coach. The team won the conference championship all three years.

In December 1980 he moved to Clear Lake, California to accept a nine-month Seasonal Park Aid position at Clear Lake State Park with hopes of acquiring a permanent position with the California Department of Parks and Recreation. While there, he fell in love with Largemouth Bass fishing. When not working, Ed could be found out on the lake, rod and reel in hand.

Ed left the Park Service in 1982, due to the state's Affirmative Action Program. At the time, minorities had priority in entry level hiring for state positions. This policy repeatedly prevented him from obtaining the permanent position he desired. Seeing no future with the Park Service, he resigned.

Ed became interested in computers in 1981 and it soon became an obsession with him. While working several odd jobs in and around the Clear Lake area, he read everything computer related that he could get his hands on. In 1991 he accepted a one year contract with Smith Systems, a small computer consultancy in American Samoa. He sold all his worldly possessions and moved to the tropical South Pacific. After completing his contract in the Fall of 1992, he moved back to Escondido, California where he lived with his dearest friend, old Navy crone and now business partner, Tink Reaster.

In May 1993 he was contacted in California by CBT Ho Ching & Company, a large American Samoan enterprise, and was offered a contract to return to the island to work. The following month he was back in the South Pacific.

He met Lavania the day he went to work at CBT and it was love at first sight, at least for Ed. A year later, on 02 July 1994, they were married in a large church wedding at the Nazareth House Chapel behind the Fatuoaiga Catholic Cathedral.

At the time of their marriage, Lavania had an 18-month-old daughter, Evannah, whom Ed adopted as his own in February 1997. Ed also has a 31-year old son, Stephen, from a previous marriage. Steve is a District Supervisor for Payless Shoe Source and lives with his wife, Molly, in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. Thanks to Steve, Ed has two beautiful grandchildren, granddaughter Alyssa and grandson Alec. That makes Lavania a 32-year old grandmother.

In the Fall 1994, Ed left CBT and opened his own, independent computer consulting business, South Pacific Solutions, which he ran as a one man operation right up until he left the island with his family to return to the mainland. In addition to consulting services, he repaired computer systems, sold custom assembled new systems, taught computer skills, and provided both hardware and software support.

During the summer months of 1998, Ed traveled to Calfornia for four months to help his old friend, Tink Reaster, get his fledgling, start up, Web Page Design business off the ground. During that four month stay, Ed saw the tremendous potential the business had. When offered a partnership, Ed returned to American Samoa and discussed it with Lavania. A seriously sagging economy on the island precipitated by an island government which was millions in debt made the decision a no brainer. In January 1999 Ed closed his business and with family in tow, moved to Southern California to help build a new business.

Ed now runs the company's Support Division, which provides Internet Hosting Services for the company's clients. He carries the title of Hostmaster and is primarily responsible for administering the company's virtual Unix Internet servers.

In addition to having a long and satisfying military career and a wonderful eight years living in the islands, Ed spent the years through his entire military career working side jobs as a professional trumpet and flugelhorn player. Down through the years he performed with a host of varied musical organizations including polka bands, jazz combos, big bands, latin bands, military marching bands, symphonic bands, concert bands and symphonic jazz ensembles. One of the highpoints of his musical years came while attending Ventura Community College when he played in the pit orchestra for a lavish college stage production of the operetta, Pirates of Penzance.

Today Ed no longer plays his horns, but he still enjoys listening to jazz from the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's. His favorite jazz artisits of the era are Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Cannonball Adderly and Thelonios Monk. Ed also enjoys classical and semi-classical music, and the music of his musical roots, polka music. In addition, he is an avid reader of books on WWII history and high-tech thrillers in the Tom Clancy genre. And he enjoys writing when he can find the time to do so.

Wilson

Photos	Navy	Lavania	Evannah	Samoa

Links	Awards	Credits	Rings	Home