Edward Frederick McLean

It has been three years since the death of my first cousin, Ed McLean, Jr. I still
miss his phone calls and annual letters that were so interesting and
informative. I thought of Ed this past September when Ken Burns' latest documentary masterpiece, "Country Music," was shown on public television. Ed would have enjoyed it immensely....especially the parts about Little Jimmy
Dickens and other early country music singers. Of course, Ed may right now be enjoying heavenly performances by those same country music stars. I'd bet on it. Hee Haw!

Hello to Ed's family. Ed and I were classmates at Hamline University and have stayed in touch through the years with our holiday letters. Ed's letters were full of travel news, historical facts, and usually a puzzle for the reader to answer. He was a true and thoughtful friend to me and to many. Love to you all, Katherine Bridgman Ellgen, Hamline University Class of 1964

I just received notice of Ed's death. I am saddend by the news. Ed's mom and my dad were first cousins. I had the opportunity to visit him a couple of times in Illinois.It was nice to have him back in Minnesota. He always wrote such interesting letters about his travels. He came to the Callister reunion often. He was even there for the 100th reunion! He visited me one time when I was making things for a bake sale. He enjoyed the early purchases. He will be missed.

Lynn -- has there been a date selected for Ed's celebration of life. I know you mentioned some time in April, but would like to have a date to put on our calendar. thanks

Hearing of Ed's passing has made me refect on our times together. We were friends at Hamline where as a Freshman Ed helped me with Math tests, getting to know our Math professors and finding fun things to do in our free time.
After graduation and working we had several crazy poker game get togethers. The next thing was getting married and Ed was our best man, but with my new wife, of thirty years now, we moved to Ft Lauderdale, FL.
Ed was good at keeping in touch with telephone calls, his newsletters, and of course he made trips to Ft. Lauderdale to visit and tour the area. On one of the trips Ed with our family drove to Key West and our daughter Heather was very impressed with all his travels and stories.
I have some guilt not responding more often to his letters but I was always glad to get his interesting newsletters. At the end of each newsletter there was almost always a personal note or question. ( Yes Ed, we did suffer from lots of smoke from the nearby fires here in Georgia, now we are waiting for snow. )

It warms my heart to read all of these lovely tributes to Ed on here. When he passed, not knowing him all that well, yet having developed a real respect for his intellect and individual charm, I was so saddened to hear that he had requested not to have a memorial service. I understand it, knowing Ed, but it seemed so wrong to me that a man that was such an interesting, engaged, student of life should pass from this world without a proper farewell; without a concerted acknowledgement of the many ways in which he made this world a more interesting place in which to live.

I guess selfishly, I needed to mark his time on this earth and wanted to have an opportunity to thank him for challenging me (us?) to live life just a little bit better.

I met Ed through my son Aaron, whom Ed befriended and became a mentor to over the past five years. Ed awakened in Aaron a sense of civic and personal responsibility, instilled in him a love for travel and encouraged his appreciation for history. He also saw in Aaron a shared love for learning and education and this past fall, Aaron started his first teaching position - 50 years to the day of Ed's first teaching assignment. Irony? Perhaps. God's Design, I think. (By the way, this was also my husband's and my 30th Wedding Anniversary date. I didn't have a chance to let Ed know this, but I bet he would've chuckled at the "coincidence"!) For all of this, I am grateful to Ed.

My husband and I (and our other sons) were fortunate as well to have become friends with Ed. He was a delightful dinner guest with endless topics of interest to discuss, though I admit, my knowledge of history, music, current events, geography and seemingly all else, paled in comparison to Ed's wellspring of remembrances and recollections!

What I most enjoyed about Ed was his unexpected sense of humor. I suppose I assumed that someone so well-versed in the facts and figures of life would somehow not be drawn to clever quips and comments. I was wrong! In fact, I learned early on in our friendship that we shared a very similar sense of humor - which made our conversations especially entertaining for me.

Regrettably, we didn't have more time to spend getting to know Ed, but I will always be thankful for all he did for my son and for the impression he made on me. He was a living inspiration to always be learning, to get out and experience the spectacularly beautiful world around us...and to share our own special gifts with others as we journey through this life.

And now, heartened by the many messages left here, I see that I needn't have worried about 'marking' your time here, Ed. You obviously did that every day. In how you lived your life. In how you shared your knowledge. In how you 'cast (your) net wide'.

May you rest eternally in peace, Ed. You will be missed.

I attended Hamline University with Ed from 1960 to 1964 and became part of a group that held together for those years and more. There are many memories from that time! One is the many Buck Euchre games which went into the wee hours in Drew Residence, our dorm for the duration. Ed was a very logical and extremely observant person and therefore a formidable opponent, but a very desirable partner in any game. Someone mentioned Ed being a night owl and that was an accurate description. An example being his choice of night shift work during summers at Continental Can Company, Mankato. I also recall being jealous of his large salary there at $1.52 an hour!

I traveled with Ed to Mexico in 1968 in his VW Beetle. It was my first experience south of the border and traveling any distance with Ed other than rides in the Twin Cities. Ed was a number one planner and made the most of every day whether it was just to cover a certain distance or to seek out a well or little known attraction along the route. While on the road, he loved eating at cafeterias, hated sitting still when he could be learning or seeing something new and never took photographs preferring, I think, to burn the memories into his brain.

Ed loved to laugh and had a witty sense of humor. Like most avid mathematicians he had an appreciation of classical music which he shared with many of us over the years. He was a kind and good hearted man that I'll miss a good deal. My sympathy and condolences to his family and loved ones.

The outstanding memory we have of Ed was his brilliant mind, so well read and conversant on many topics. He could talk with us endlessly about history and politics especially, and people and places he and Gerhard both knew from their school days. Ed had an ongoing thirst for knowledge. On returning from his many adventures, he loved sharing stories when he came to our home. Our lives will be different now - he will be truly missed!
Love and prayers to your family.

Ed was my brother-in-law and uncle to my two children Ned and Katie. We will miss our long conversations with Uncle Ed on so many and varied subjects. His depth of knowledge was impressive and his sense of humor infectious and always reflective of his intelligence. May he rest in peace.

I was surprised and saddened to hear of Ed's death and I extend my sympathy to his sister, family and friends. I met Ed about 1966 through Doug Wilkowske along with some of his other Hamline friends while living in St. Paul. He and I attended concerts together and often played cards while he was still in MN. He couldn't be beat in a Trivia or Jeopardy game. After he moved to Illinois we kept in touch and I visited him there a few times. He also stopped to see me a number of times in St.Paul when in the area. Since I moved to Moorhead in 2004 he visited me a couple times and we would talk on the phone. I last spoke with him in Nov. I enjoyed hearing of his many travels and extensive knowledge on many subjects. I will miss my friend.

Ed is my first cousin, our mothers being the daughters of Grandma Dilley.
Ed was a year older than me, and we had many common interests. Good memories of sharing his attic bedroom hideaway on summer vacations in Mankato.... listening to rock 'n' roll songs on radio WDGY....and singing along at the top of our voices. Although Ed was schooled as a math teacher, he could easily have been an instructor in Americana at a junior college. His extensive knowledge of geography, historical sites, politics, museums, national parks, American history, and just plain interesting places to visit in the 50 states was impressive. He enjoyed classical symphonies as well as country/western music....and could tell you the call letters and DJ names of radio personalities at stations across the upper Midwest. When Ed called on
the phone, you could rely on an interesting conversation with him over
numerous topics. So it was in early December when we conversed for an
hour and a half: the election results, the passing of Bobby Vee, visits to the
Surf Ballroom and the tragic loss of three rock stars in 1959, the true meaning of "American Pie," climate change, the political future. It was the last phone call I received from anyone. So his death a week later has profoundly affected me. My sincere condolences to Ed's sister Lyn.....and to anyone who appreciated Ed's thirst for knowledge and his sense of humor.

In honor and memory of my brother, Ed. LYN

I graduated from Mankato High School with Ed in 1960. Over the years I have enjoyed reading his " Letters". He always had a personal note to add and make it special. His last memo was - "Are you planning to be in Arizona this winter? Have you experienced HABOOBS? (Severe wind storms.) I don't remember hearing about then when my mother, brother, sister, and maternal grandmother lived in Tucson in 1954. My Dad couldn't leave his law practice for four months (Jan-April) and I got to stay in Mankato with him."
We will all miss Ed and his letters. My sincere sympathy.

We were neighbors of Ed's on Winchester for about 10 years. We got to know him very well and even took some weekend trips with him. He is the reason I vote to this day!!! We enjoyed meeting his parents numerous times as well.
May Ed rest in peace.

Just read the obit in today's paper. Ed was best man in our wedding in 1968, and Myron knew Ed from when they both attended Hamline. Ed was a special person, and knew a lot about a wide variety of subjects. Enjoyed his 'travel' letters that appeared usually twice a year.
Our condolences to the family
Myron and Lois Martin

I have known Ed for over 10 years, as I am the Director of Nursing at Keystone. I remember him as a "night owl", because he was always up late at night and made lots of friends with my overnight staff. He was very intelligent and like to "proofread" items we had any questions about! He loved talking about all his travels and the sites he had visited. We will all miss him,
Diane Zander