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They met in 1957 at the University of California at Berkeley after Ed returned from serving with the Army in Korea. Diane was an undergraduate student majoring in journalism and Ed was a graduate student in structural engineering. They were married in 1960. Their son Mike was born in 1961 and daughter Terri was born in 1963.
Diane passed on February 7, 2016 after a brief illness, survived well by family and memory.
Terri was born mentally handicapped, but hasn't let that stop her from enjoying a rich social life filled with many fun activities. Although she lives elsewhere for care, she routinely comes home for Thanksgiving and periodic visits. She loves cats, movies, jewelry, and watching racing on the TV.
Mike worked as a science teacher for many years to fond regards from most of his students, but ultimately retired in 2019. He now enjoys keeping up with Ed's antics, working out, and watching westerns. His children were born in 2003, and are currently attending UC Santa Cruz.
Molly is studying anthropology, and Lee is studying history. They spend their days working, whether it be at video games, gardening, or school.
Ed Wilson was born in 1931 on a dairy ranch in Ferndale, California, the youngest of seven children of Josephine (1892- 1970) and James C. Wilson (1882-1961). Ferndale, a small community, is approximately 250 miles north of San Francisco on the Pacific Coast and is the most Westerly city in the first 48 US States. Ed is one of 59 grandchildren, all born in the Ferndale area, of Edward (1860-1940) and Maria Regli (1866-1912) Christen, German Swiss immigrants.
In 1940 Ed’s older sister Margaret, now 85, married Tom King, who died on October 6, 2003, at the age of 92. They moved to Sacramento where he worked at an air force base and founded the Capital City Jazz Band. They bought a house in West Sacramento in 1942 for $2,800 where Margaret still lives with her son Tommy.
In 1941 to 1944 Ed’s sister Alice trained as a nurse at Mercy Hospital and later become Head Nurse. She married Bill Blanas in 1944 and their oldest child Lou is now Sheriff of Sacramento County.
Ed’s sister Blanche also earned a RN after being educated as a nurse at Mercy Hospital during 1946 to 1949. She and her husband now live in the family home on Santa Ynez Way near H Street.
Ed’s father had a stroke in 1946; therefore, the family moved to Sacramento in 1949 so Ed’s three sisters could help to take care of their father. Needless to say, it was a big trip for Ed, at the age of 17, to move from a ranch in Ferndale to the State Capital.
Ed lived and worked on ranches in the Ferndale area until 1949. At that time he retired from hard physical work and moved to Sacramento, CA, graduated from Christian Brothers High School and Sacramento Junior Collage before transferring to University of California at Berkeley.
After Ed recieved his doctorate in 1963, he and Diane moved to Sacramento for two years where Ed worked at Aerojet General Corporation on the Apollo space program and the Minutemean rocket. Alongside his work at NASA, he taught courses in the evenings on computational methods for the statis and dynamic analysis of structural systems at Sacramento State University.
In 1965, Ed returned to Berkeley as a professor in Structural Engineering, teaching until he retired in 1991 after a mild heart attack. He continues to conduct research and consult several committees and groups throughout the Bay. Outside of work, he's spending a lot of his time on home improvement, lately surveying efforts to redo the front and back gardens with Mike in the house they've had since 1966. The fence rebuilding efforts are long, but look great so far!