Edwin Gareth Heide of Mercer Island died March 15, 2017 at the age of 95 after a brief illness. Ed was born April 13, 1921 on the family farm near Rhame, North Dakota. He was the ninth of ten children born to Sarah and Oscar Heide.

During the Depression, the family moved to Eugene, Oregon where Ed graduated from Elmira High School. Ed enlisted in the Army and served in the Pacific during WWII, including at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the occupation of Nagasaki. After the war he attended the University of Oregon on the GI Bill graduating in 1948.

While attending college he met Melba Maston at a Lutheran Students Association dance. Melba would say the night they met she wore a new dress she had saved months to buy. She claimed it was best investment she ever made as they were married August 8, 1948 and together they began a life journey of a growing family and military service.

Ed earned a Master of Divinity at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN and was commissioned as a US Air Force chaplain in 1955. Ed, Melba and family would together spend next 27 years on various near and far assignments before Ed retired at the rank of Colonel.

Ed counted his many blessings during his lifetime but mourned the early death of Melba to cancer in 1991. Ed spent his later years on Mercer Island near his daughters and their families.

He is survived by his 3 children, Sara, Ross and Catherine, grandsons Alex Peelle and Jonathan Heide and wife Heather, and great granddaughter Allison. Ed was supported in his early years by the love of his nine siblings and again in his later years by the devotion of many nieces and nephews.

Just as Ed ended each service, we wish for him: “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Ed will be interred at Riverside National Cemetery in California next to Melba. Messages can be left at Legacy.com.