Edward Lawrence Fund, a beloved husband, father, stepfather, grandfather and respected friend, made his journey to heaven March 23, 2023, less than a month before his 93rd birthday.
Ed entered this world on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1930, in Yakima, the youngest of six children born to Gottfried “Fred” Fund, a Swiss immigrant, and Mary Julia (Peterson) Fund. He was preceded in death by his parents and five siblings — Bertha Beers, Esther Worley May, Arnold, Orville and Evelyn Gran Peterson.
He grew up in Yakima, where he learned to love the Lord as a member of the Church of God. At the age of 15, shortly after the death of his father in 1945, he learned to fly airplanes. He graduated a semester early from Yakima High School in 1948 and joined the Air Force. He completed basic training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas; Jet Propulsion School at Bergstrom Air Force Base near Austin, Texas, where at the age of 19 he purchased a two-seater Fairchild PT-19, a primary trainer airplane; and Aircraft and Engine Mechanic School in Biloxi, Mississippi.
During the Korean War in the early 1950s, he survived a typhoon on the way to Tokyo aboard the USS Bairoko. As part of the 522nd Fighter Squadron, Ed served as an aircraft mechanic and crew chief in subzero temperatures at Taegu on the southernmost tip of the Korean peninsula. His pilot with the 27th Fighter Escort Wing credited him with maintaining the plane so well it brought him home safely from the war. A decade ago, Ed shared his recollections of serving in Korea at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis during the 15th Annual Korean War/POW-MIA Remembrance Day.
After his discharge in September 1952, Ed sold his plane and bought a 1948 Ford Mercury, which he drove to Washington. He tested equipment at Boeing Co. in Seattle for a time before starting a television repair business in Yakima.
On Dec. 14, 1953, he married Betty Jean Holmes, a lovely, Christian woman with a young daughter, Denise, whom he adopted. The family grew to include a son, Larry, and another daughter, Paula.
Ed worked a dozen years as a firefighter for the Yakima Fire Department, and at the same time, he started building his family a house and buying and selling real estate. While fighting a blaze, he survived a roof collapse that plunged him and his battalion chief into a fire-filled attic. He also survived a training jump from the second floor of a maintenance shop.
He enjoyed camping and boating with his family during the summers and toboggan trips when it snowed. But during one trip down the slope, the toboggan hit ice, soared into the air and plunged into a crater. When everyone behind him flew forward, he broke vertebrae in his back and damaged his spinal cord. A surgeon said he’d never walk again, but Ed refused to believe it. His mother prayed, and after surgery in Yakima and rehabilitation at a Veterans Administration hospital in California, Ed walked again.
Although pain was a constant companion, he kept a cheerful, positive attitude, doing what he could to encourage and inspire other patients. Walking on campuses using crutches, he achieved his childhood dream of obtaining a college education — earning an associate degree from Yakima Valley Community College, a bachelor’s in psychology from Central Washington University and a master’s in psychology from the University of Washington.
Ed started a job as a counselor for the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and worked his way up to supervisor of the Yakima office and later helped the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges incorporate vocational rehab programs on college campuses.
After his first marriage ended in divorce, Ed married the love of his life, Edna J. McGee, on Nov. 20, 1980, at the Centralia Church of God. Ed loved both Edna’s son, J.R. McGee, and her parents, William and June Gorter.
Ed continued to own and manage real estate after retiring from his state job. In the 1990s, Ed flew to Ghana to reconnect with the Rev. Edward Nkansah from the Church of God and shared uplifting messages with Christians in the West African nation. Together, Ed and Edna traveled to Mexico; his father’s native Switzerland; The Netherlands, where Edna’s parents were born; China; and Hong Kong, where J.R. married Anita Chow in November 2000. They also attended several of Ed’s Air Force reunions.
Throughout his life, Ed loved to fly whenever the opportunity arose, often with Joyce Rust and later with Sam Warren.
When Edna ran for Centralia City Council and later Lewis County commissioner, Ed accompanied her to campaign events and chauffeured her in the van while she was doorbelling. He loved treating friends and family to dinner.
Last year, Ed published his life story, The Art of Giving Yourself Away … from the Heart, sharing wisdom gained through nine decades of a rich life, including an invaluable early lesson taught by his father: “You reap what you sow.” He considered his mission in life to spread love, joy and positivity. He seldom complained about his health challenges with skin cancer, osteomyelitis, macular degeneration and a triple heart bypass. He credited God for all he had accomplished in his life.
In addition to his beloved wife of 42 years, Ed is survived by his children, Denise (Larry) Martin and Paula (Eric) Fuller, both of Yakima, Wash., and Larry Fund of Enumclaw, Wash.; stepson J.R. (Anita) McGee of Redding, Calif.; grandchildren Andy, Kevin, Brooke, Amber, Mitchell, Amanda, Josiah, Abby, and Jaymin; and great-grandchildren Charlie, Gabriel, Hudson, Preston and Jackson.
A memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 8, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Centralia. Interment will take place at 11 a.m. at Claquato Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Lewis County Historical Museum, Chehalis Centralia Railroad & Museum or the Veterans Memorial Museum, all in Chehalis.
