A Good Life Remembered

Great grandfather Edward Sandford was 79 at the time of his son’s wedding in 1921. Having started his second marriage at the late age of 48, he was always a generation out-of-step with the rest of his family.

Edward had dealt with health concerns most of his life, beginning with his near-fatal battlefield wound in 1864. Non-specific, health concerns were cited among reasons for his decision to leave Vermont in 1890 in search of a warmer climate. In his final year of 1921-1922, Edward’s diagnosis was hardening of the arteries.

His son Joe left a few notes on his father’s last year in his diary.

Edward died on October 8, 1922 at age 82. Joe was 30. Obituaries in the Los Angeles Times and San Bernardino County Sun acclaimed Edward’s life of service…

Saint Johnsbury, Vermont commemorated Edward’s life, as well, publishing a detailed remembrance two weeks later…

Notice of Edward’s death reached the wire services and appeared nationwide.

Great grandmother Annie, age 64, remained in the family home on East D Street for the rest of her life. Daughter Helen, age 24 in 1922, lived with her mother until 1931 (also spending time overseas), when she married Edgar Bircsak.

Edward and Annie (following her death in 1941), are buried in the family plot at the Bellvue Cemetery in Ontario.

Most of us would need five lives to accomplish what Edward did in one. He was a merchant sailor, a (wounded) Union soldier, an American diplomat in China, a minister, and a school administrator, giving his full measure to each task. He had two full, devoted marriages and raised three successful children. He sailed to the other side of the world twice. He was a pioneer in the American west.

In Joe’s words, “he was one of the best men that ever lived.”