Editor’s note: Ed Quillen’s mother, Dorothy wrote the following remarks for her son’s memorial service held in Salida on June 10, 2012.
On the morning of Nov. 12, 1950, a little baby bundled in a blanket was placed in my arms in my hospital room at the old Weld County Hospital in Greeley, Colo. This little baby was the most beautiful one I had ever seen. He had a mop of bright red curly hair, brown eyes and a clear complexion, although there was a yellowish cast to it. I knew immediately that his name was to be Edward Kenneth Quillen III. His dad was Edward Jr., and his grandfather was Edward Sr.
His grandfather, grandmother and father were partners in owning the Crystal White Laundry in Greeley. We were living in a three-room apartment a few blocks from that laundry.
This baby was known for quite awhile as “Little Eddie.” When he was 13 months old, we moved to a home next door to his paternal grandparents in Evans, a suburb south of Greeley, where his father and grandfather built a small, four-room log house where we lived for 16½ years. We did add a couple of more rooms as our family grew.
He was a precocious child. He talked before he could walk. Even as a small child, he was an “entertainer.” I always read to him, but he learned to read on his own before he started to school. There was no kindergarten in the Evans school, and he began first grade before his sixth birthday. By that time, he had two little brothers, Anthony and Kurt.
At an early age, he memorized the “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” He was in a Christmas play at Bethel Baptist Church in Greeley, and he read the Christmas story from the King James version of the Bible to other older children in a program, only missing one word. He read about Mary being “exposed” instead of “espoused.”
Our large backyard became a playground for many neighbor children. There were many baseball games played there. Keeping grass in the yard was nigh onto impossible. He felt sorry for kids who had grassy backyards because they didn’t have fun like he and his brothers did. One time he built a roller-coaster with odds and ends he found around, but he was cautious and had his little brothers try it out before he got on it.
As he got older, he worked in the laundry with his dad.
In 1960, another little boy joined our family, Philip. He was different than our other boys. We didn’t know what was the matter with him. His brothers didn’t rough-house with him and treated him gently. When he was seven, he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. We were given no hope that he would live to adulthood. He passed away shortly before his 14th birthday. His loss was grieved by the whole family.
Eventually, the Evans schools were integrated into the District 6 schools in Greeley and Ed graduated from Greeley West High School with honors in 1968 with a really good scholarship to CSCE (now UNC). That spring, the Crystal White Laundry in Greeley was closed and we moved to Longmont. His dad was then plant manager of the Model Laundry in Longmont and Eddie worked there with his dad. By that time, he had his own car and he went back to his friends in Greeley as often as he could.
He enrolled in CSCE and enjoyed working on the college newspaper, The Mirror. One day during the school year, he and his roommate came over and they had a girl with them. We assumed that she was the roommate’s girlfriend. They just introduced her as “Martha Patterson,” and she worked on The Mirror also. He had never shown much interest in girls, but he finally told us she was his girlfriend!
I was working at the University in Boulder and one day Eddie called me at my office and said that he and Martha wanted to get married. They were both 18. She didn’t need her parents’ consent, but he did. I called his dad right away and we met them at the courthouse in Boulder. However, they were a little late and the courthouse was closed.
We came back to Longmont to talk things over. I told Ed I thought he was a little young for marriage. He said, “How old were you, Mom?” I didn’t have a leg to stand on. (Ed. note: She was 18 when she married.)
We were members of the Galilee Baptist Church in Loveland and we went to talk to our pastor about this. He gave us some pretty good advice. He said in that day and age, kids just moved in together and didn’t bother about marriage. Was that what we wanted? Of course not. Our pastor said that they would have enough problems being that young, but if we were supportive of them we would never regret it. And he was so right. We didn’t have much money either, but we helped as we could.
We asked Ed and Martha to consult with our pastor and to be married by him in a ceremony in our home and they agreed to that. They were married on June 26, 1969. They would have celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary on June 26, 2012. To this union were born Columbine Kay on Aug. 24, 1975, and Abigail Cynara on Nov. 2, 1977. What a blessing they have been to us. Both girls are married, living in Oregon, and Abby has presented her parents with two beautiful grandsons, Ezra and Ira. Abby has begun to write like her dad. Columbine is in law school.
Over the years, Ed and Martha have worked together, run short on finances, raised two beautiful, smart daughters, become grandparents, and remained faithful to one another through everything. Writing is hard work. If you don’t believe it, try it some time.
All my tears and mourning will not bring Ed back. Oh, how I miss him already! However, he has left a legacy that few other people can leave. Go to Ed’s website, www.edquillen.com, and see the number of columns he has left for us, several million words. He had several books in print also.
Both my “Eds” are gone now, but I still have two wonderful sons, Kurt and Tony, who have many skills different than Ed’s and I love them every bit as much as I loved him.
