Ed DeVries Memorial Service: 23 August 2007 Our friend and classmate, Edward John DeVries, was memorialized in moving ceremonies in San Antonio on 23 August 2007. The service began in a funeral chapel filled with family, friends, and flowers at 10:00 A. M. in Universal City, where Ed and Nema had lived for many years. Prominent among those at the service were an entire row of Nema’s friends, ladies of the Red Hat Society, wearing their distinctive emblem red hats.

The service was conducted by the Reverend Henry Talcott, a long-time close friend of the DeVries family. Ed and Nema’s love was a theme of the service, a love story that began 55 years ago for a 17 year-old groom and his 15 year-old bride. Ed’s son, also Ed, shared his memories and feelings for his dad. Ed was also remembered warmly by Dan Deibler, who had come to love Ed as a brother since they first met at OCS.

The service continued at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, where Ed was honored with a full military funeral. The Air Force Honor Guard moved the casket from the hearse to a shelter for the rest of the ceremony. The Honor Guard ceremoniously folded the flag which had covered the casket and presented it to Nema. The ceremony ended as the bugler sounded Taps, and the Honor Guard fired a 21-gun salute in Ed’s honor. 

For those who would like to make a donation in memory of Ed DeVries, the family has suggested that online donations to the American Lung Association may be made at the following Website:  http://www.texaslung.org/donate.htm