Graveside Service

Susan Williams

Edwin Gehres

Ed Gehres

Erika Gehres

Ed had a difficult childhood.  He was born during WW2 on the way from Bessarabia (near the Black Sea) to Germany in a place called Sudetenland.  His family had lived in Bessarabia for decades, but were forced to move by the Nazis.  With his father conscripted into the German Army later to be sent to the Russian Front, his mom caught the last train to Germany. But life was hard because there wasn’t enough food.  They managed to make it to a city near Stuttgart.  In 1952, his family had the opportunity to come to America with the help of the Lutheran church.  They worked for a chicken farmer in Bristow, Tennessee until his mom discovered they had relatives in Lodi, California.
Ed was absolutely fascinated with radio and television. He walked by a sales and repair store every day on the way home from school.  One day, the owner of the shop noticed his interest and offered him a job.  Finding he had a natural gift for electronics and diagnosing and repairing them, the owner, Don Poser, taught Ed how to fix everything from televisions to home appliances. Ed was hooked and launched a 35-year career and a lifelong passion.
Upon completion of High School, Ed enlisted in the Army and was stationed right back in Stuttgart, where he met his wife, Sybille.  The additional steps involved in marrying a foreign bride resulted in their anniversary spanning two days: one for civil ceremony and the next for their church wedding.  Always clever, whenever he missed the first day for wishing his wife “Happy Anniversary”, Ed would always say he didn’t consider them actually married until they completed the church ceremony.  It made for an interesting spectacle for his kids every year. Sybille would remind him on the first day and he would reply, “I have until tomorrow.”  Not to be outwitted, one year Sybille decided to wait until the second day to remind him, sending him scrambling to find a gift.
While in Germany, they had their first child, daughter Susan, before returning back to Lodi. He initially returned to his job at Posers before starting his own business, Gehres Service Center.  In 1965, Ed and Sybille added daughter Erika to the family, followed by son, Edwin Jr., in 1968.
Running a small business is always a challenge and, with a growing family, Ed looked for other opportunities.  He eventually took the role as Chief Engineer at a local radio station where he maintained the towers, transmitters and consoles. When a host called out for a Sunday night shift, Ed stepped in to cover and became an instant hit.
The Chief Engineer role wasn’t exactly building a nestegg, but it did have its benefits. One of which was that Ed had the opportunity to meet various religious leaders in town. A devout Christian, Ed had always considered becoming a minister. These connections led to Ed being invited to step in at local churches to deliver the Sunday message. But it just wasn’t time yet for him to serve full time.
Ed knew he had to move forward in his career and better provide for his family. In 1975 he applied for a Government job in China Lake, but a last minute hiring freeze stopped the process.  A year later while on an unscheduled stop at the radio station, he received a call from the China Lake hiring manager to see if he was still interested. Had he not visited the radio station on his day off, he may have never got the job that brought he and his family to China Lake.
Ed started the next stage of his life with the Technical Information Department (TID) Film Video Projects Branch at China Lake in April, 1976. The family stayed in Lodi until after the school year and they all rolled into town at two o’clock in the morning on Father’s Day, 1976.  The family lived on the Navy base for the next two years before moving to the family home in Ridgecrest in 1978.
Armed with a strong work ethic forged by his tough childhood, Ed quickly developed a reputation at work as a highly capable electronics wizard, often doing the job of an engineer even without a college degree, as well as an effective troubleshooter, able to work through complex issues that others were either stumped by or believed were impossible. During his time with the Navy, Ed invented many incredible devices that are still in use today including a device that measured the potential of geothermal energy as well as an inductive method for both charging and transmitting data through closed surfaces. For those of you who enjoy charging your phones without a charging cable – you're welcome: Ed Gehres invented that technology in the early 1980’s for a Navy missile program.  When his son later told him about the technology being used in consumer electronics he responded with a typically glib expression of pride: “I was wondering when they would finally do something with that.”
As he progressed in his career, his expertise and no-nonsense ability to diagnose and solve problems with designs, systems and even people earned him regular promotions and new responsibilities. As a manager on various missile and smart bomb programs, including Sidewinder, Walleye, Sea Sparrow and Sparrow, Ed diagnosed and solved problems ranging from the technical to the bureaucratic, often finding himself explaining and even testifying about various issues, including in front of Congressional committees.
When the travel grind required to keep those projects started to wear on him, he found a new role that would keep him closer to home while at the same time keep him tied to his love of electronics: the Metrology Lab Branch Manager. Again, Ed excelled as an innovator, including the build out of a clean room for calibration of specialized equipment, the only one in the region at the time.
Ed and his wife Sybille continued to be active in the church.  As soon as the family moved to China Lake, they became regular members of the All Faith Chapel where he enjoyed the weekly Men’s Prayer Breakfast, became a regular Sunday School teacher and devoted additional time to the various youth groups. Ed and Sybille even served as Sunday School Superintendents at one point, taking responsibility for growing and improving the entire program.
In 1990, while heading out of town to take Susan to a doctor’s appointment in the Los Angeles area, Ed’s wife Sybille was tragically killed in a car accident just outside of Ridgecrest.  Seriously injured in the wreck, Susan managed to crawl out of the car and up to the highway to flag down help. She underwent surgery for several broken bones and spent a month in the hospital. Ed’s mom, Rose, moved in to assist in caring for Susan.  She stayed for almost a full year, before going home and a year later succumbing to cancer herself.
Two years after the death of his wife, Ed met someone that would become his constant companion, friend and confidant throughout the remainder of his life, Twila Ashley. Gracious, kind, and incredibly patient, Twila and her children and grandchildren were quickly accepted as part of the extended Gehres family.
Family was always an important aspect of Ed’s life.  Every Christmas when his own children were growing up, the family would have Christmas Eve services where his children would read the Christmas story and play Christmas carols on their musical instruments.  Later, Ed would invite his grandchildren, Rachel and Rebecca into the church to play their instruments for Christmas Even services.
The itch to join the ministry never left Ed and during his last few years in the civil service he took college classes to earn a degree and enable him to become a licensed minister. Ed retired from Government service in December of 1995. After the birth of his first grandchild, Rachel, in 1996, he began taking classes in earnest through a local program offered by Vanguard University.  In 2001, at the age of 60, Ed completed his bachelor's degree in Divinity and was ordained as a minister by the Assemblies of God shortly thereafter, finally realizing his dream.
Ed’s longtime talent for fixing problems followed him into the ministry. Offered his first church assignment in Trona at the Calvary Assembly of God Church >https://www.facebook.com/Trona-Valley-Christian-Assembly-of-God-600361770022706/, the congregation was nearly non-existent, without even a building for regular worship services. Although his plan was to help the church rebuild and then move on to something else after 5 years, soon after taking the leadership role with the Trona congregation, he fell in love with the people and stayed. During his years of service at the Trona Valley Christian Assembly of God, it’s likely Ed and the Trona congregation made equal impacts on each other.
Once Ed found his place in the ministry, it was clear he had finally found his true calling in life.  He loved being there for people, listening to their fears, problems and challenges and using stories from his life experiences to help people understand the plan that God has for them all.  Not one to disregard his hard won technical skills, Ed also brought video recordings to his church, creating weekly recordings of services so that those who could not attend could still hear the message and enjoy the service.  When COVID forced the church to stop in-person services, Ed quickly adjusted and launched a Facebook page for his flock resulting in an even greater audience for the word of God than ever before.
Ed had a rewarding life and touched many souls during his journey here.  He was loved and will be missed by us all.

Page Settings

Enter location name

Full Name

We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze site traffic.
<privacyLink>Privacy Policy</privacyLink>.

<firstParagraph>We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience.</secondParagraph>

<firstParagraph>We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>The cookies that are categorized as 'Necessary' are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site.</secondParagraph>

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Analytics

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Functional

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Necessary

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Performance

Customize Cookie Preferences

Black Friday Offering

Honor Their Memory

- Including QR Memorial Plaques, Memorial Trees and our Keeper Plus and Concierge Memorial Plans

Now offering KeeperQR Plaques

New Message

The following files could not be uploaded

Ways you can honor {memorialName}'s memory:

Donation Link

Upcoming Event

Featured Mementos

Title

A message title is required. Please update.

Welcome Message

Select an item to highlight

Add a highlighted item

Customize which items you’d like to highlight on the memorial

Create Account

Become a Keeper

As a free {brandName} user, you will only be able to make 5 photos and videos public.

As a free {brandName} user, only the first five (5) Mementos are visible to page visitors. You can change which Mementos are public by dragging and dropping a photo or video to one of the first five positions. Upgrading to {brandName} Plus will make all 10 Mementos selected visible to the public.

All Mementos

This option is only available to Keeper Plus users.

To allow yourself and the rest of the community to view all images and videos, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of these mementos, upgrade your account to Keeper Plus.

This memento is not visible to visitors

Your community has posted {itemCount} more pictures and videos that honor {firstName}'s memory. To view them all, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of each, this account will need to upgrade to Keeper Plus.

View all images and videos with Keeper Plus

Our Obituary Assistant helps you craft a meaningful life story in minutes. Review and edit every detail, and unlock more features with Keeper Plus.

Obituary Assistant

Spend as much time as you need working on your Memorial page before it is visible to the public, and much more, when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Save Page as Draft

Create unlimited event pages and unlock a suite of powerful features to help you seamlessly coordinate event details, invites, and more when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Event

Create a full picture of your loved one’s community and add unlimited family and friends to Loved Ones when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Loved One

Create unlimited Memorials — and unlock unlimited images and videos, event pages, and advanced privacy settings — to help you keep memories alive when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Memorial Page

Add unlimited Stories to highlight the all the things that made your loved one unique, from milestones, images, albums, documents, locations, and much more.

Highlight Stories

Upgrading to Keeper Plus means you can add additional Keepers to help you gather Mementos and tributes, approve content, build out a family tree, and tell {firstName}' story on Keeper.

Invite Keepers with Keeper Plus

Upload and display unlimited photos and videos, use unlimited Story templates to highlight key moments, and allow friends and family to download their own copies when you upgrade to Keeper Plus. 

Better Mementos with Keeper Plus

To access memorial related configurations that control the display of the banner upgrade to Keeper Plus.

This configuration  is not available on your current plan

Create a meaningful link path to add a personal touch to {firstName}'s memorial.

Custom Memorial link

Gift Messages

SENDING AS A GIFT?

Cart

MEMORIAL TREE PLANTED

BEES PROTECTED

PLASTIC RECYCLED

CLEAN WATER

This will permanently delete your account. The business account, and business page will not be deleted. To deactivate your account, there must be another admin user assigned to your organization.

Are you sure you want to deactivate this account?

Organization name

Your name

To permanently remove this item, select Remove. To keep this item, select Cancel.

You have selected to delete {count} items from the Mementos Library. In doing so, these items will be permanently deleted from your library.  Do you wish to continue?

Thank you for your submission. All submissions are reviewed and must be approved before they appear on the page.

Thank you for you submission.

Web URL

Create a full picture of your community by creating individual Memorial pages for your family members, friends, and more.

Highlight the important people in {name}'s life by adding them as a Loved One. You can add someone via their {brandName} Memorial or Living Memorial page, or add their information manually.

Enter this Loved One’s email to let them know you have added them.

Add Loved One

You can only add an image for your Loved one by upgrading to Keeper Plus or creating a Memorial page for a Loved One that has passed away.

This is where the descripton will appear.

Add up to 50 photos and/or videos to create an album of a specific moment in {firstName}’s life. You’ll be able to reorder files and add captions to each file after you save.

Enter an album title

This is the album title

How would you name this album?

Album title

Enter album title

Group title (optional)

Used to mention your loved one throughout the memorial.

To avoid losing the previously generated text, we recommend copying and pasting the text to a secure location. If you wish to save the text, close this window, and copy the text to a secure location. If you are ready to generate a new version of your text, select the ‘Generate Story’ button.

Your current text will be removed

With just a few details from you, our AI-powered writing tool can draft a personalized and meaningful life story in a click.

The Obituary Assistant will take all the content you add to craft the perfect obituary. For the best possible results, please make sure all sections are completely filled out before generating.

Not displayed - used for your notifications only.

Used to display your relationship to {firstName}

Name

Who is this memorial for?

Use our Story templates to highlight a memory or event by adding unique details and a special layout.

New Offering

Create a video slideshow in minutes

Introducing Tribute Videos

Transform your profile page into a Living Memorial to start preserving your own legacy with photos, videos, and more. You can choose to keep your Living Memorial hidden until you’re ready to publish. Have more questions?

Create a Document Story

Enter a document title

Edit a Document Story

Upload an important document that signifies a moment in {firstName}’s life. This will display on your Memorial, so please don’t upload a death certificate, Social Security card, or anything containing sensitive information.

Document Story

What does this document represent?

We're getting your Mementos ready for download in a secure .zip folder, but it may take some time depending on your internet speed and file sizes. You'll need to stay on the site while this happens, so please don't leave mykeeper.com! (You're welcome to navigate away from this page and do other things on the site, as long as it's on mykeeper.com.)

We're getting your Mementos ready for download in a secure .zip folder, but it may take some time depending on your internet speed and file sizes. You'll need to stay on the site while this happens, so please don't leave our website.

Preparing your download

Change the name of this album in the field below

Edit the album title

You are creating and/or updating an event in the past.  If this was done in error, cancel and review your changes. 

Event is in the Past

Create an event page to coordinate a gathering in honor of {username}

To permanently remove this event and all corresponding data, select Delete. This cannot be undone.

Do you want to remove this event?

Share a link for guests to access a Virtual or Live Streamed Event

Share the event location to provide guests with directions

Choose if anyone on the internet can see event settings and RSVP options.

Only those with this password can access the event

Event privacy

Event RSVP

Choose if anyone on the internet can see who has RSVP'd to the event.

Guestlist privacy

Describe the event, including dress code, requests, or other important details

Enter important personal and family events like the birth of a child, a marriage, and more.

Select the <star>star icon</star> on a photo or video to display it in the Featured Mementos Section on the Memorial page. You can feature between 3 and 10 items.

Why are you flagging this?

By clicking subscribe below, you will receive emails containing information on any updates or additions that are made to this memorial page.

By clicking unsubscribe below, you will no longer receive emails containing information on any updates or additions that are made to this memorial page.

By clicking subscribe below, you will receive email reminders for upcoming events containing the event details - 72hrs prior to the event occurring for {username}’s Memorial.

By clicking unsubscribe below, you will no longer receive email reminders for upcoming events containing the event details - 72hrs prior to the event occurring for {username}’s Memorial.

By clicking subscribe below, you will receive emails containing information on the most recent memorials added to {brandName}.

By clicking unsubscribe below, you will no longer receive emails containing information on the most recent memorials added to {brandName}.

Welcome back, {name}

Welcome to {name}

Add a special touch to a memorial by including a beautiful emblem.

Story Title

What would you like to call this storyline?

Need examples? Try "{firstName}'s Life at University" or "A Lifelong Learner."

Add Interests or Milestones

Tell us about {name}'s life

Highlight the important people in {firstName}’s life by adding family members, friends, and more as Loved Ones. To get started, simply add existing {brandName} users and Memorial pages as Loved Ones, or add them manually by entering some basic information.

Section title

Add a map

Add markers to significant places, landmarks, cities, and other locations to create a personalized map that tells part of {firstName}’s life story.

Add a Map Story

What would you like to call this map?

Map Story

Enter a map title

Need ideas? Try something like “Places {firstName} Called Home” or “Favorite Vacation Spots”

Add a memento story

Add up to 100 photos and videos at once to your Memorial. You'll be able to add details, or feature as Stories later, if you like.

Add Mementos

Add Title or Text Story

Mementos are uploaded photos and videos that other users can like and comment on. If you'd like to highlight one of these and tell its story, you can transform them into Stories.

Updating your biography

A consolidated view of all the ways someone can honor the memory of your loved one (send flowers, donations, etc.).

Banner

This option allows users to customize the visual appearance of the memorial page by removing the existing Keeper logo from the memorial page. This is particularly useful for those who prefer a more personalized look for the page.

Remove Keeper Logo

Memorial Page Configurations

Allows visitors to the memorial page to purchase a tree in honor of your loved one’s memory.

Purchase a Tree

Allows you to show or hide the “Send Gift Basket” button in the memorial page banner, letting you choose how others can honor your loved one’s memory

Send Gift Basket

Allows visitors to the memorial page to send flowers or make donations in honor of your loved one’s memory.

Send Flowers

Sympathy Gifts

This option allows admin/editors the ability to customize the visual appearance of the memorial page by showing or hiding the display of  “Sympathy Gift Ideas” on the memorial page. This is particularly useful in assisting families who prefer a more personalized look for the page.

Memorial Configurations

Only you can see this page and all its content.

Replace the current background with one that feels right for the memorial.

We couldn’t use this photo. Try a different one.

Memorial Settings

Enhance portrait

Memorial Keepers

This page and all its content is now visible according to your privacy settings.

If added as a Keeper, you'll be able to manage and edit {keeped}’s profile

Request Keeper Access

Send a message to {name}

Check your inbox

The information you have entered will be lost if you close this window.

Are you sure you want to close this window?

Select ‘Submit Obituary’ to complete and publish this obituary, or select ‘Keep Editing’ to include additional information in the obituary.