Bill Edson

Bill Edson, a humble man devoted to his faith, to his writing and to his wife and family, and who in 1950s Southern California made the ultimate leap of love and faith dating and marrying a single mom with four kids and never looking back, passed away peacefully in his sleep Sunday, September 18, 2022 in El Cajon, California. He was 92.

Billy Don Edson was born February 16, 1930 in Los Angeles, California, to father Carroll Cliton Edson (b.1906 – d.1972) of Kokomo, Indiana and mother Frances Marion Traeder Edson (1907-1991) of Pueblo, Colorado.

Billy attended El Monte High School and graduated with the class of 1948, a member of the Christian Youth Club. He was a devoted Baptist Christian and served in the Air Force from 1950 to 1954 as a Senior Air Policeman. He received the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal.

After the war he took on his first newspaper job in 1956, at the El Monte Herald. On his first day on the job he was greeted by a switch board operator, Reberta “Bobbie” Mae McCoy. Bobbi was a single mother (former husband Stanley Jankowski, 1924 - 2006), with four kids ages 10 to 5 – three daughters Sherral, Laura and Deborah, and a young son, Stan.

Friends and colleagues told him he was crazy to date a woman with four kids. But Bill felt like he was the lucky one. He said Bobbie saved him. They dated for two years and married January 31, 1958. He was blessed, he said, to be married to this wonderful woman, and he loved her children as his own. They were married for 47 wonderful years.

By 1972 Bill and Bobbie were settled in a developing San Diego suburb just north of Mission Valley, in a comfortable home at 2445 Meadow Lark Drive, which quickly became the center of countless family get togethers, Easter Sundays, Thanksgiving dinners, and Christmas Days, when the house would fill up wall to wall with great grandparents, spouses, grandchildren - four generations of the extended family. Often reserved during these big and boisterous family gatherings, the writer in Bill was always observing and listening, his arms casually folded as he held his pipe to his lips or as he stroked his goatee in deep thought, soaking in the conversations, antics and laughter with a keen eye.

He was a newspaper copy editor for almost 40 years, starting with the aforementioned El Monte Herald, then with North Shores Sentinel in the late ‘60s, and retiring in the early ‘90s with the San Diego Union Tribune, where for many years he had his own column.

Bill and Bobbie adored their seven grandchildren, and for each of their 13th birthdays the couple would fly them to San Francisco as a kind of teen right-of-passage to show them the sights and enjoy the trolleys and hills and attractions of the City by the Bay. Each year Bill would send his grandchildren copies of his ongoing short stories and adventures of “Lone’s Christmas Boots.”

He also loved Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. He and Bobbie would go to the zoo regularly, and even after her passing in 2004, he kept making visits until a stroke forced him to curb the trips he so loved.

A local sports fan, one his favorite pastimes was to sit outside on his front porch and listen to San Diego Padres baseball games on the radio, or catch games on television. And he loved watching L.A. Rams football. He was also a lover of trains, lighthouses, and our national parks. During his later years in his nursing home he would request a wall calendar every year with his favorites – the last one featuring photos of Yosemite National Park.

He was a cat lover; never without a cat in the house, he always had at least one feline friend around to keep him company. In his home office, one could find among the dozens of mementos and collectables his figurines of lions, his favorite animal, which he had displayed all over the office. And in recent years at his nursing home he loved watching the many feral cats around the facility. He and other residents enjoyed feeding these feral friends – until the facility put a stop to it. Granddaughter Traci would bring him food for the cats and, during her frequent visits, would watch him sit back and enjoy the cats while she helped him smoke his pipe.

He was a wonderful man, a faithful husband, father, and grandfather.

He is predeceased by his loving wife Reberta ‘Bobbie’ Mae Edson (d. 2004), daughter Sherral Ann Allison Flude (d. 2014), son Stanley Robert Jankowski (d. 2019), and granddaughter Stephanie Michelle Williams (d. 2020). He is survived by his two daughters Laura Lynne Rosson and Deborah Marie O’Connell, six grandchildren – Mark, Donny, twins Staci & Traci, Jennifer, and Shannon – seven great grandchildren and one great-great grandson.

Gravesite services will be held at El Camino Memorial – Sorrento Valley & Memorial Park Monday, October 3rd at 12PM, with services by the Air Force, complete with the presentation of the American flag and the playing of taps. More information can be found at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/san-diego-ca/el-camino-memorial-sorrento-valley