Edward Pardue Fitzgerald was born on March 7, 1931 to Robert Andrew and Irene Fitzgerald. He was named Edward after his father’s boss, and Pardue after the doctor who delivered him at the family home on State Line Road in Jefferson, Texas. He had 4 brothers and 1 sister, and was the 3^rd oldest in the family. The house on State Line Road had no electricity or running water, no windows in the kitchen, dining room, or sleeping porch, only screens and canvas. Water for cooking, dishwashing, and drinking was drawn from a water well with a rope and bucket, and heated on a cookstove for taking baths in a #3 wash tub.

He attended elementary school in a two-room schoolhouse in Hartsaw, Texas, and graduated with honors from Grey High School in Jefferson, Texas in 1949. During his high school years he worked in the Texas oil fields as a roustabout, helping to maintain the oil wells.

After graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps, during which time he studied electrical engineering and helped maintain the electronics for the military equipment at Camp Gordon, Georgia. He later was stationed in Paris, France during the Korean War where he was responsible for the radio communication between Orly Field where General Eisenhower kept his personal airplane, the Columbine, and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Power of Europe (SHAPE). He also installed the home telephone system for the Eisenhower’s, personally meeting Mamie whom he said was ‘a doll’.

After the Army, he attended Southern Methodist University on the GI Bill, during which time he worked for a variety of corporations as a co-op student until 1958 when he received his BS in Electrical Engineering. He worked for a number of companies before joining Humble Oil and Refining Company (which later became Exxon) in February, 1967, where he was responsible for their network activities in the Pacific Region. He continued to move up the corporate ladder, and in 1972 became Manager of Corporate Telecommunications where he had world-wide responsibility for Exxon’s Telecommunications Network. During this time he traveled extensively throughout the world, including Europe, Indonesia, Russia, and Asia. He served as an ambassador to Russia on behalf of Exxon on maritime communications. He was also written up in Business Week for having developed a maritime satellite communication system which enabled the company to communicate with the ships when they were at sea.

He married Eileen in May of 1982 and they had 3 children: Jonathan, Matthew, and David. Ed also had other children prior to meeting Eileen: Lance, Keith, Jeff, and Rebecca, all of whom reside in Texas. Shortly after their marriage, Ed’s division was merged with another division, and Ed was forced into early retirement. During that time he kept busy with projects around the house, helped with the children, and served on the board for the neighborhood association. He was as handy and skilled around the house as he was brilliant in the corporate office. He built the family deck, knocked out, rebuilt, and finished rooms, built cedar closets, swing sets, tree houses, picnic tables, sand boxes, and trolleys for the kids. The swing set had been partly constructed from steel radio towers.

He faithfully attended church, and was very active serving on prayer teams, on the Elder Board, and as a spiritual father to many.

He loved the Lord, his wife, and all his children. He was very witty and hospitable, and kept his wit until the Alzheimer’s ravished his brain and he could no longer communicate. Ed was a good husband, father, and friend and will truly be missed.