Ed and Diane Wilson 

They met in 1957 at the University of California at Berkeley after Ed returned from serving with the Army in Korea.  Diane was an undergraduate student majoring in journalism and Ed was a graduate student in structural engineering. They were married in 1960. 

Their son Mike was born in 1961 and daughter Terri was born in 1963.  After Ed received his Doctors Degree they moved to Sacramento for two years where Ed worked at Aerojet on the Apollo space program.  

In 1965 Ed returned to Berkeley as a Professor of Structural Engineering.  He retired from teaching in 1991 after a mild heart attack. He continues to conduct research and is still professionally active consulting and serving on several committees at the University and in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Shown to the right is the El Cerrito home Ed and Diane moved into in 1966. The 1965 mustang was purchased new for $2,350 by Ed in 1965 while he was working at Aerojet. After 39 years he has continues to drive this old car almost every day - he must like old things.   The house and the car are  in much better shape than Ed.  

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Edward L. Wilson was born on September 5, 1931 in Ferndale, California, the youngest of seven children of Josephine Christen (1892-1970) and James C. Wilson (1882-1961).  Ferndale, a small dairy ranching community, is approximately 250 miles north of San Francisco on the Pacific Coast and is the most Westerly city in the first 48 US States.  Ed is one of 59 grandchildren, all born in the Ferndale area, of Edward (1860-1940) and Maria Regli  (1866-1912) Christen , German Swiss immigrants.    

Ed lived and worked on ranches in the Ferndale area until 1949.  At that time he retired from hard physical work and moved to Sacramento, CA, graduated from Christian Brothers High School and Sacramento Junior Collage before transferring to University of Californian at Berkeley.    

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Ed in 1941 with his dog Lindy

October 8, 2003

 Why Ed moved to Sacramento?

 In 1940 Ed’s older sister Margaret, now 85, married Tom King, who died on October 6, 2003, at the age of 92.  They moved to Sacramento where he worked at an air force base and founded the Capital City Jazz Band.  They bought a house in West Sacramento in 1942 for $2,800 where Margaret still lives with her son. 

In 1941 to 1944 Ed’s sister Alice trained as a nurse at Mercy Hospital and later become Head Nurse.   She married Bill Blanas in 1944 and their oldest child Lou is now Sheriff of Sacramento County.    

Ed’s sister Blanche also earned a RN after being educated as a nurse at Mercy Hospital during 1946 to 1949.  She and her husband now live in the family home on Santa Ynez Way near H Street. 

Ed’s father had a stroke in 1946 - therefore, the family moved to Sacramento in 1949 so Ed’s three sisters could help to take care of their father.   Needless to say, it was a big trip for Ed, at the age of 17, to move from a ranch in Ferndale to the State Capital. 

As Paul Harvey would say - You now know the rest of the  story! 

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