Tuesday, November 15, 2016
To Mrs. Barch and Family: I extend my condolences to all of you for your loss of your husband and your father with the passing of Ed! It came as a great shock to me when Ron Wahonick stopped by last Monday to inform me of Ed's passing. Both Ed and Ron did not want to be called "Mister" as it made them feel old. So, I took to calling them Sir Ed and Sir Ron because they both were my Knights of Honor for the way they helped me out the past 3 1/2 years! The amount of time and effort that Ed had given to me in buying things and saving me money at the store, picking my mail at the local post office branch, and even doing some household chores when I was not well is and always will be a lasting good memory of the great man he was! He would say he was honored to help me, a disabled US Army veteran who served honorably and was beaten for it over a 2-year period resulting in Traumatic Brain Injury and ibs of the colon. But in all reality it was I who was honored that he chose me to help because of the students he taught over the years I know more of them reached far more success in life than I ever did. When I was a 7th grade Math student of his back 51 years ago in the 1965-66 school year at Rowe Junior High Ed saw that I was very good at math. He would encourage me to think about a career involving math. So great was his influence that by the time I reached my discharge from the Army in 1974 I had decided to become a high school math teacher like Ed. While attending the Ashtabula branch of Kent State I did not know if I would be as great a teacher as Ed but I sure would try! Anyway events in January and September 1975 caused me join the Army a second time. I will always be honored by the influence Ed had on me throughout my life even though we did not get to see other from 1975 to 2013. I'll miss his jovial old self even when he was not feeling well! May God Bless you all and keep you strong! I am sorry I could not come as I have been on bedrest at a Nursing home for quite awhile. Tomorrow the 15th I get to get up in my wheelchair for an hour twice to start the old energy going again. Take care! Sincerely, Fred Frank CHS 1971
