Edward L. Ornelles, 95

Edward L. "Ed" Ornelles, CTC, U.S. Navy retired, 95, passed away April 17, 2009, at Brendan House in Kalispell.

He is survived by his wife, Marian, of Kalispell.

Ed was born in Waipahu, Hawaii, on Dec. 11, 1914. He was the youngest of 10 children. He had four brothers and five sisters.

He went to Saint Louis College in Honolulu.

Ed moved to San Francisco to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a court reporter. He joined the Navy when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Ed met Marian in Seattle while he was stationed at Bremerton Naval Yard. They were married in November 1945.

Ed decided to stay in the Navy after World War II. He was stationed in Washington, D.C., the Philippines, Hawaii, London, Alaska and Bremerton, Wash. His last station was Treasure Island near San Francisco. He retired as a communications technician chief after serving 30 years in the service.

Ed enjoyed going camping in Glacier National Park. He and Marian settled in Whitefish and built a house in Happy Valley. They resided there until the early 1990s and then moved to a condominium in Kalispell when the work of having a house was too much for him.

Ed liked dogs and had poodles and Yorkies. He had heart surgery in the early 1980s. He had another heart attack March 6, 2009, and did not recover.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the All Saints Episcopal Church, 2048 Conn Road, between Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

Burial will be afterward with military graveside honors by the United Veterans of the Flathead and the Montana National Guard at Glacier Memorial Gardens in Kalispell.

Austin Funeral Home in Whitefish is in charge of the arrangements.