Paul E. (Ed) Stevens

Paul E. (Ed) Stevens passed away on Jan. 23 after a brief but grace-filled battle with pancreatic cancer. The Holy Rosary will be recited at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church on Thursday at 6 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be concelebrated by Rev. John Morse, Msgr. Martin Skehan, and Deacon Bob Schrom at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church on Friday at 11:00 a.m. in the morning.

Ed was born in Janesville, Wis. on Sept. 22, 1928, the son of Paul D. and Dorothy (Schlink) Stevens. He had two sisters, Rosemary and Lonabelle, and one brother, Harold. The family moved to Longmont, Colo. during the drought years, then on to Starr, Idaho, and eventually to Ontario, Ore. where they farmed. Ed graduated from Ontario High School in 1946 and immediately enlisted in the Army. He served in occupied Korea at the end of World War II. In 1949 he enrolled in Oregon State College where he worked part time as a research assistant and in his senior year at the Klamath Falls Research Facility.

With the completion of Grand Coulee Dam, the Bureau of Reclamation was opening up the Columbia Basin for irrigation. Ed drew #8 in the land lottery of 1952 and chose farm unit 232, Block 42. Ed was a founding member and planner, along with Joe Gies, of the First Potholes Water Association which served 32 farms in Block 42 at the time. In 1952 he was named to the Fraternity of Alpha Zeta, a national agriculture fraternity. In 1956 Ed was instrumental, along with Fred Warren and Jake Lybbert, in setting up the Moses Lake Weed District. In 1958 Ed was named Washington State Outstanding Farmer of the Year and later Soil Conservation Farmer of the Year for the Moses Lake area. In 1959 he was named State Legume King by the Washington State Crop Improvement Association for his crop of clover. In 1960 he was appointed to the FHA State Advisory Committee for a two-year period and in 1980 worked with the Citizens Steering Committee for the school bond to replace the roofs on all the schools. Ed was a faithful member of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church from the time it was a mission of Ephrata and was an honorary lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus.

As a young unmarried bachelor, Ed was a magnet for the neighbor kids. The Plaisted, Elder and Gies kids could often be found at Ed's place or out riding on the old Ferguson 30 with him. In 1969, with a gentle nudge from Betty Ekanger, secretary at Lakeview School, he met Cleo Cardinal and they were married in October. They have two children Patrick and Pamela. Ed loved animals and wanted to pass that on. We have many memories over the years of bottle feeding calves, riding horses, showing sheep, and meticulously doing the chores! Ed was most proud to be a farmer and said he was privileged to have seen "the desert in bloom." His greatest enjoyment in the last few years was giving four-wheeler rides to his five grandchildren, Kaitlyn, Taylor, Brandon, and Jared Stevens and Ethan Warring. Ed had three loves in his life — his wife and children, his grandchildren and his farm.

He is survived by his loving wife of 36 years, Cleo, his son Pat and wife Tammy, his daughter Pam and husband Carl Warring, his five grandchildren, his brother Harold (Carol) Stevens of Pocatello, Idaho, his sister Lonabelle (Paul) Eastman of Twin Falls, Idaho and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Dorothy, his sister Rosemary, and his nephew Steven Sagaberd. The family would like to express their special thanks for the extraordinary care and concern of Dr. Rick Hourigan and his nurse, Joelle Unruh, and the nurses, aides, and volunteers of Moses Lake Home Health and Hospice. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Our Lady of Fatima Building Fund or the American Cancer Society.