Edward Emerson Jr.

Date published: 11/15/2009

Edward Emerson Jr.

Edward Emerson Jr., 82, passed from this life on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009.

He was born in New York City on Jan. 2, 1927, to Edward Emerson and Martha Payne Emerson and grew up in Greenwich, Conn. He was preceded in death by his wife of 30 years and the love of his life, Elizabeth Newman Emerson, who died in 1981. He then shared a 20-year marriage with Carolyn Emerson, who is a beloved stepmother and grandmother to his family.

He is survived by a sister, Sheila Sadler of Beach Haven, N.J., and Sarasota, Fla., and two brothers, Chris Emerson of Hood River, Ore., and Job Emerson of Cape Cod, Mass. Six children and 10 grandchildren also live to remember him: Sheila Kelly and her husband, Jim Boggs, of Charleston, W.Va., with children Elizabeth Anne Kelly and John Asher Kelly; Edward Emerson III and his wife, Ellen, of Monroe, Conn., with children Edward Winthrop Emerson and Elizabeth Fargo Emerson; Kate Shumate and her husband, John, of Barboursville; Peter Emerson and his wife, Deb, of Waynesboro and children Margaret Newman Emerson and Helen Payne Emerson; Elizabeth Lonergan and her husband, Kelly, of Woodberry Forest and children Ava Sinclair Lonergan and Peteran Conway Lonergan; Laurie Neale and her husband, Tim, of Orange and children Lael Sinclair Neale and Samuel Henry Neale.

Unable to serve in the military in 1945 due to a physical complication, he volunteered in the American Field Service, driving an ambulance for the British army in the India-Bursan theater. Upon returning from overseas, he entered Yale University, becoming a mainstay on the defensive line for the Eli football team and earning an invitation to play in the 1949 North-South Shrine All-Star game at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla.

After graduating from Yale, he began his career for Peoples National Gas Co. in Pittsburgh, Pa. He flourished until retiring in 1982 as vice president and director of Consolidated Gas Transmission Co., headquartered in Clarksburg, W.Va. Ed was an active community volunteer in the Clarksburg area, coordinating watershed projects and other environmentally oriented projects.

Ed Emerson was a man who loved nature and animals. He had a passion for upland bird dogs and was involved in field trials up and down the East Coast, eventually serving as president of the Orange County Field Trial Club in Baldwinsville, N.Y.

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Date published: 11/15/2009