Charles Crane Edin

Charles C. ""Chuck"" Edin, 86, Jamestown, North Dakota, died Friday, March 6, 2009 at his home in Jamestown.

Charles Crane Edin was born January 15, 1923, in Jamestown to Charles Berthold and May (Crane) Edin. He grew to adulthood there and was graduated from Jamestown High School in 1941.

Following his graduation, Charles attended Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, and Jamestown College. He then joined the Air Transportation Command, and served in the Yukon Territory, Canada, until the end of the Second World War. After the war he continued his love affair with cold places by participating for two and a half years in an aeronautical research project on the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.

Charles the returned to North Dakota, working for the state employment service, first in Fargo and later in Wahpeton. In Wahpeton he met and fell in love with Borgni Skorpen. They were married June 1, 1952, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Valley City. Charles and Borgni first made their home in Wahpeton, but moved to Williston in 1953 during the first oil boom. In Williston, Charles organized and operated Edin Construction Co.

In the fall of 1956, Charles returned with his family to Jamestown, where he began his career in the insurance business. He was initially associated with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. In 1965 he became a general agent for Pioneer Mutual Life Insurance Co. He represented other companies as well. Charles was active in his professional association, serving three times as president of Central Dakota Life underwriters and once as president of the state organization. In 1984 her retired from active selling and management of his agency, but he continued to serve clients until his death.

For fifteen years after his retirement, Charles worked for the Jamestown Senior Center, transporting bulk meals to the outlying communities.

Charles cared deeply about his home town. As a young man he was active in the Jaycees, serving as their first president when the organization was reactivated after his return to Jamestown, and later as state vice-president. He was also a life member of the Elks. He was always excited by improvements and progress in the community, and never tired of showing Jamestown and the surrounding area off to visitors.

For 50 years Charles sang bass in the Jamestown Choralaires. Although he was unable to return to practices last fall, his ear remained true and his love for vocal music undiminished.

Charles was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church, where he was baptized and confirmed. He served three years as congregational president during the 1960's, and for many years sang in the choir. He also served as a lay sacramentarian from the inception of the program until shortly before his death.

Charles was a man of boundless generosity, and the gifts he gave to others were the sort that neither moth nor rust can consume nor thief break in to steal. His deep love for his family and his community, his unwavering optimism and belief that every difficulty can be overcome, his passion for music and all the beauty of wild and tame nature, and his faith that led him, like his Lord and Savior, always to put the needs and interests of others ahead of his own: these are gifts he shared with all who knew him.

Charles is survived by his wife of 56 years, Borgni; two sons, Charles, Bismarck, and Bradley, Valley City; one daughter, Barbara and her special friend, Donald Brummond; and two grandchildren, Charles and Taylor, Bismarck. He is also survived by two nephews and their wives, James and Phyllis Ingle, Papillion, NE and Keith and Sharow Ingle, West Fargo; and one niece and her husband, Jeannette and Douglas Kinyon, Elk Grove, California.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters and brothers-in-law, Erma ""Dean"" and Don DeLong and Dorothy and Guy Ingle, and an infant brother, Owen.

Funeral Service: 2:00PM, Thursday, March 12, 2009 at St. John's Lutheran Church, Jamestown.

No visitation is scheduled.

Burial: Highland Home Cemetery, Jamestown, ND, in the spring.

Memorials may be sent to St. John's Lutheran Church, Jamestown College, or Jamestown Hospital Foundation.