Edward McNeilly

I would be remiss in not including this. Uncle Ed sent probably 10 to 15 boxes of school supplies and kids toys, he liked to send matchbox cars, on the principle that everyone likes them. He was right; I had soldiers asking me for cars for their kids as well. We lost Ed McNeilly this month. He was my Uncle and has 11 brothers and sisters, a daughter innumerable nieces and nephews, and of course the following generation from them. He was an admirable man. I believe he was generous to those in need, and he was able to disagree with people with out either abdicating his position or attacking the other party in a personal way. I did not know him well, ours is a very spread out family. I spent some time with my Father and Ed visiting Marie in Idaho the summer prior to deploying in the summer of 2005. Through Uncle Ed, I met Merri, who shares our last name, she lives on the East Coast, he lived in California, I live in Oregon, and while haven’t met her in person, I am sure glad that he co opted her into our part of the family as well. Probably the best thing that I can say about my Uncle Ed is that he did good things well, and he lived the way he wanted to. I hope that I do as well. I know we all will miss him.