Edward Meserve

SOMERSWORTH ; Edward C. Meserve, 85, a proud member of "America's Greatest Generation," died April 30, 2009, at Colonial Hill of Rochester Care and Rehabilitation Center after a six-month battle with lung cancer. He would have celebrated his 86th birthday on May 7.

He was born in Dover on May 7, 1923, the oldest child of the late Harold R. and Margaret A. (Thompson) Meserve, and had lived in Somersworth for nearly 60 years, most recently at the Charpentier Apartments at 28 Franklin St. He was married for 49 years to Thelma A. (Drury) Meserve, who died July 18, 1986.

Ed was raised in the Sawyer's section of Dover and graduated from Dover High School in 1941, where he lettered in winter and spring track and ice hockey. The 1940-41 Dover High hockey team won the New Hampshire State Championship, the Twin-State Championship (against Vermont) and competed in the New England Hockey Tournament in Providence, R.I. They were beaten in the first round by Cranston, R.I., 2-1, in a game which went into double overtime. Ed was the goaltender on that team and made 62 saves in the loss to Cranston. He was named All-State, Twin State and All-New England goalie to cap that fantastic season by the Fred Walker-coached Dover High team.

After graduation in June 1941, Ed and four other DHS graduates were selected in a nationwide search to work as machinists at the Ford Instrument Company in Long Island City, N.Y., where anti-aircraft weapons were manufactured. Ed came back to Dover shortly after New Year's Day 1943, and finding that most of his contemporaries had gone off to war, he enlisted in the U.S. Army on Feb. 15, 1943. During Army training he was selected to become a member of the Army Air Force, the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force, as an aircraft engine and electrical accessories repairman. He served with distinction in the Asiatic Pacific Theatre of Operations with the 345th Station Complement Squadron at Kadena AFB, Okinawa, Japan. He was under the command of Captain Jack J. Catton, with whom he was reunited many years later when General Jack Catton became the one of the first commanders at Pease Air Force Base.

After separation from the military on March 14, 1946, Ed returned to Dover. Over the next 49 years he worked for a number of companies and agencies, including as a lineman for the Bell Telephone Company, an electronics planner and estimator at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, as a cab driver in Dover and Somersworth, and as a delivery driver and later as maintenance manager for the General Linen Company at its Somersworth and Manchester plants. He retired from General Linen in 1985, but even after retirement he worked for several summers for the Somersworth Cemetery Department at Forest Glade Cemetery. He was also active with American Legion Post 69 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, both of Somersworth.

All of his life travels and experiences provided "Eddy" with an amazing source of historical and anecdotal stories which he further enriched with a passion for reading newspapers and books. He especially enjoyed telling anyone who would listen about the history of Dover's garrisons, including the Meserve Garrison which was located on Back River Road until the late 1800s. He was quick with a story or a joke no matter where he was and his incredible memory and wit remained intact right up to the time of his death.

After falling and severely fracturing his hip in 2001, and in the ensuing years until the hour of his death, he was blessed to be treated and cared for by some of the most wonderful skilled and long-term care professionals at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, at Dover Rehabilitation Center, and most dearly by the incredible staff at Sunbridge of Rochester (now Colonial Hill). He spent two years there after his hip fracture and when his health deteriorated in early this year; he wanted to go "home" there to spend his final days. Ed's family will be eternally grateful for the care he received and for the special friendships he shared during the last eight years of his life.

Survivors include a son, John H. Meserve and his wife, Janice, of Dover; a daughter, Kathleen D. Phelps and her husband, Richard, of Fulton, Indiana; three grandchildren, Jason J. Meserve and his wife, Amy, of Amherst, Christopher B. Phelps and his wife, Dawn, of Wickliffe, Ky., and Hillary E. Meserve of Philadelphia, Pa.; a great-granddaughter, Bailee Phelps of Wickliffe, Ky.; two brothers, Robert G. Meserve and Donald S. Meserve and his wife, June, of Dover; many nieces and nephews; and a very special friend, Angela Green of Rochester.

In addition to his wife and parents, he was predeceased by a daughter, Judith Ann Meserve, and by his sister, Margaret Beairsto.

At Ed's request there will be no calling hours.

A celebration of Ed's life will be conducted at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 5 Hale St., Dover, at 10 a.m., Tuesday, with the Reverend Susan E. Garrity, Rector, officiating. Burial will follow at Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover.

The family respectfully declines flowers and suggests memorial donations be made in the name of Edward C. Meserve to the Jimmy Fund, which has supported the fight against cancer in children and adults at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West (6th floor), Brookline, MA 02445-7226.

To send a private condolence please visit, www.berniergelinasfh.com

The Bernier-Gelinas Funeral Home, 49 South St., Somersworth, has been entrusted with funeral arrangements.

@Online guest book:Visit www.fosters.com/obits for an online guest book.