RIP, IBEW Lineman, Brother Edward Fenn

>Edward Raymond Fenn Sr.
March 26, 1926 — Aug. 2, 2006

Edward Raymond Fenn Sr., 80, of Albany passed away Wednesday at Samaritan Albany General Hospital, surrounded by loved ones.
He was born in Nyssa, the fifth of 10 children to Stanley Warren and Alta Harris Fenn.
He served in the Navy during World War II as a gunner on the U.S.S. Thomas Augustus, which was struck by a kamikaze bomber on Oct. 24, 1944, at San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf.

After his service discharge in 1946, he met and wed Lena Thelma Johannessen in Madras on Dec. 11, 1948. The couple moved to Albany in 1951, whereupon he became an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union member and received his journeyman lineman status soon after. He remained a member in good standing for 55 years.

The couple raised their three children, daughters Mary and Debbie and son Edward, in Albany. After the children were raised, he and his wife followed construction jobs across the western United States until his retirement in 1991.

In addition to his career as a lineman, he invested in, improved, maintained and managed real estate in various locations across Oregon, including houses in Coos Bay and Albany.

He was most well remembered for his incredible work ethic, infectious sense of humor and unlimited capacity for caring and kindness towards others. He has been the patriarch and unfaltering pillar of his immediate family and an involved and active member of his very large extended family, which includes relatives in Idaho, Nevada and North Carolina.

He enjoyed puzzles, restoring old furniture and ornaments and traveling, especially the occasional jaunt to Reno or Las Vegas.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Lena; children and their spouses Mary and Fred Gray, Edward and Gladys Fenn, and Debra Fenn-Whipps; brother Ora Fenn of Albany; sister Lara Jensen of Hillsboro; nine grandchildren; and 21 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday at Fisher Funeral Home. A graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Waverly Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the American Lung Association in care of Fisher Funeral Home, 306 Washington St. S.W., Albany, OR 97321 (www.fisherfuneralhome.com).