Edward Hungerford Obituary

Sept. 24, 1921 - Feb. 17, 2021

Edward Arthur Hungerford died of natural causes on February 17 at the age of 99 at his home in Ashland, Oregon. He was born on September 24, 1921, to parents Arthur S. and Mamie Fredlund Hungerford in Bremerton, WA. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Sheila, and by two daughters, Emily Siroky [Vitek] of Wenatchee, WA and Nancy Brown [Larry] of Roseburg, OR, and by his sister Mary Jane Clarke of Olympia, WA. He will also be missed by four grandchildren: Evan (Laurel) and Karly Siroky and Erik and Antony Brown, one step grandchild: Laura Brown and two great grandchildren: Autumn and Lawson Siroky.

Ed and his family moved to Tacoma, WA when he was two, where he attended Washington Grade School, Mason Intermediate and Stadium High School where he was the editor of the Stadium World, the weekly newspaper. He attended the College of Puget Sound (now UPS) for three years, editing their weekly newspaper until WWII broke out and he enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He served from 1942 to 45 in Kansas City, North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

After the war Ed worked as a reporter for the Vancouver Columbian, returning later to Tacoma to finish his BA degree at CPS. He next went to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and earned his MA degree and then took a one year position in the English Department at the University of Idaho at Moscow, ID. He earned his PhD degree from New York University, his thesis on Virginia Woolf's literary criticism. His studies were mainly focused on the Bloomsbury group, especially in published articles on Virginia Woolf and Lawrence Durrell. His teaching career in composition and literature continued with short stints at CPS and the Univ. of Delaware, longer years at Central Washington Univ. at Ellensburg, WA, concluding with his longest tenure at Southern Oregon Univ. at Ashland, retiring in 1986.

Ed enjoyed a long, healthy and varied retirement; tennis in the summer, downhill skiing at Mt. Ashland in the winter, reading and book collecting the year around. He was almost 80 when he hung up his downhill skis. He especially loved foreign travel with his wife Sheila; they made a number of trips to western Europe, often revisiting his wartime haunts in Italy. He was a member of Ashland Congregational United Church of Christ, attended Elderhostel classes and taught classes at OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute).

A Celebration of Ed's life will be held later in 2021.