Obituary of Edward Donald Stone

EDWARD DONALD STONE Edward ("Ed") Donald Stone was born on November 24, 1932, in Dante, Virginia, to Cosby Lorraine Stone (Glovier) and Carl Edward Stone and passed away peacefully after 60 years of marriage to his beloved wife, Denise on May 17, 2015. Ed was one of eight siblings who grew up in a two-room house in the coal mining town of Dante. Ed worked in the family garden, and earned money shining shoes and starting the coal stove to heat his school. After graduating from high school, Ed went into the United States Air Force where he proudly served our great country on active duty for 20 years. During his Air Force career, Ed was stationed first at Sealand AFB, England, where the shy, retiring country boy met the dancing social butterfly, Denise Anderson, at a neighborhood pub. They wed at Christ Church in Liverpool, England, on August 6, 1955. Together, they were stationed at Bury St. Edmonds, England; Myrtle Beach AFB, SC; Scott AFB, IL; Wurtsmith AFB, MI; Charleston AFB, SC; and two tours overseas at a U.S. Embassy in the cities of Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan, where their daughters grew up riding camels on the beach, learning Urdu from their nanny, and being evacuated through the Khyber Pass to Kabul, Afghanistan, on the way to Beirut, Lebanon, as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 raged on. Life was good to the Stone family. After retiring from the Air Force as a Master Sergeant with full honors, Ed took a job in Base Supply as a civilian, where he served another 32 years working in Wurtsmith AFB, MI; Blytheville AFB, AR; Pope AFB, NC; Howard AFB, Panama; Spangdahlem AFB, Germany; and Mildenhall AFB, England. In 1999, Ed was offered a job as Assistant Chief of Supply at Davis-Monthan AFB, which he gladly took to be near his (then) two grandchildren. Ed and Denise have lived in Tucson since. Ed is survived by his wife, Denise (Anderson) Stone, his daughters Debbie Spohn (Vern) of Tucson, AZ; and Sharon Stone-Pudwill (Gary) of Chaska, MN, and his grandchildren Nathaniel and Beth Spohn of Tucson, AZ, and Elise and Riley Pudwill of Chaska, MN. He is also survived by his brothers Eugene (Castlewood, VA) and Michael Stone (Castlewood, VA), and preceded in death by his parents, and his sisters Della Higbee (Dante, VA) and Willie "Bill" Gray Byrd (Rockford, IL), and brothers Chuck (Dante, VA), Rudolph (Phoenix, AZ), and most recently his brother Roy Stone, (Rockford, IL), who preceded him in death by less than 30 minutes. In our mind, we can hear Roy, in his southern drawl, saying "Come on Ed, let's go Home." We take great comfort in knowing that Dad and Roy are making this next journey together. To all who knew Ed, he was a quiet and handsome man with an infectious smile who loved his family and the military with all of his heart. He was quick to tell a joke, grab the check, or lend a hand, particularly to younger airmen who needed help. Dad loved playing baseball (both girls had a mean arm), getting his money's worth at all-you-can-eat shrimp restaurants, and cheering for his favorite college team -- the University of North Carolina Tarheels! Despite traveling to 20+ countries all over the world, this small town boy from Dante always dreamed of returning to the hills of Virginia to sit on a porch drinking a "pop", eating peanuts and watching the rain fall off the tin roof of his childhood home. He put that dream on a back burner to keep Denise in the Arizona sunshine and enjoying the mountain views she loves, and never regretted that decision. As dementia crept in, Dad still held tight to his memories of his childhood, family and Air Force career and could recite line, page, and chapter of base supply and civil service regulations. He rarely asked for anything for himself and his primary goal in life was that his children and grandchildren have a better life than he did. And Dad certainly succeeded in that goal! Looking back over a simple yet full and rich life, Dad will be missed tremendously by all who had the privilege of knowing and loving him. A Celebration of Life will take place on Tuesday, May 26th at 2:00 p.m. in Academy Hall, Atria Bell Court Gardens, 6653 E. Carondelet Drive, Tucson. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation, 110 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017, www.alzinfo.org/donate.