On January 21st of two thousand and four, my father, Edmund H. Zehel passed away at his home in Deland, Florida. He was born on July third of nineteen hundred and twenty-nine in California, Pennsylvania, and was a brother of ten siblings. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the United States Army, and later married his wife Misako in 1956. He became a proud and devoted father in 1958, and much later an even prouder and loving grandfather in the year of 2001. Up until that time, he had lived a very fulfilling life. He enjoyed attending church services, doing yard work, playing cards, reading the newspaper, watching the news and football games on television, and reading books to his grandson Steven.

While in the army he received the Bronze Star medal and had earned the rank of 1st Sergeant. After serving in the army for twenty-one years, he then retired in August of 1968. He had served in the Korean War, and also served two tours of duty in the Vietnam War. He has traveled to Japan, Korea, South America, Italy, Greece, and the Vatican in Rome, Guam and Hawaii. After retiring from the military, he tried his hand in house construction, worked in a hardware store, became a purchasing agent in a medical clinic, worked as a car salesman, became a car sales manager and had sailed the seas as a merchant marine.

In 1996, he had his first battle with cancer, which was due to his exposure to Agent Orange. The chemical Agent Orange had been used extensively in the Vietnam War. After the cancer was removed form his right lung, it remained in remission for the next seven years. Then tragically in November of two thousand and three, just one week before Thanksgiving, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His only last wish was to die at home, which was accomplished with the help from Hospice. He is greatly loved and missed, and will be forever in our fondest of memories.

P.S. We would like to express our appreciation to family and friends for your words of comfort and your prayers.

By Edmund H. Zehel Jr.