On September 13, 1935, a single mother, Hedwig Staedter, gave birth to Edward C. Staedter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Sunday, November 30, 2020, after 85 years of adventures, Edward passed away at home from Alzheimer's and heart disease.

After growing up on a farm near Watertown, WI, Edward's family moved to Oconomowoc where he played football, ran track and met the love of his life, Joanne, who he married on groundhogs day, February 2, 1957. Immediately after high school, Ed proudly served on the USS Wisconsin BB-64 Iowa-class battleship as a communications petty officer and traveled the world on many military and humanitarian missions. He used the GI Bill to earn an associate's degree in electronics and eventually worked for Oaks Manufacturing and as a telephone engineer for 24 years at TDS/State Long Distance Telephone Company in Elkhorn where he retired in 1998.

Side-by-side with his wife Joanne, Ed traveled to the world's top scuba diving sites, took adventuresome bicycling and rafting trips, boated nearly every summer day and hiked, camped and RVed around all points in North America. "Big Ed," a lifetime member of the NRA, was an avid hunter, outdoorsman and trap shooter alongside his great friend Cliff Schieffelbein, Vern Palenske and his many hunting dogs.

Never a little bit of anything, from the food on his plate to his legendary storytelling to the size of his heart, Ed was the family lifeguard who protected his kids, grandchildren and embraced all who wandered through his front door acting often as a second father for many.

Edward is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joanne (Tenpas) Staedter; daughter Carla (Keith Williams) Staedter, Lake Oswego, OR; son Scott (Jeanne Hrovat) Staedter, Madison, WI, and "adopted" daughter, Patty (Ken) Wifkofski, Burlington, WI, five grandchildren (Luke, Anders, Anna, Shane and Jana), sister, Panny Bongardt and close family friend, Mary Dowdle.

Ed is now enjoying a gin martini with those that proceeded him including his mother, Hattie Bongardt, step-father, Fritz Bongardt, sister, Elizabeth (Staedter) Rupnow, brother-in-law Orville Rupnow, nephew David Rupnow, brother-in-law Richard Rehberg and in-laws Harvey and Mildred Tenpas.

Our loving thanks to Steve from Home Helpers and Jennifer and Salina from Aurora Health hospice team for their dedicated and compassionate caregiving.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, a celebration-of-life and military salute event will be scheduled in 2021. Memorials can be made in Ed's name to either the Nauticus museum (home of the USS-Wisconsin), Duck's Unlimited or Pheasants Forever.

Nauticus Museum
1 Waterside Dr, Norfolk VA 23510

Ducks Unlimited
1 Waterfowl Way, Mempis TN

Pheasants Forever
1783 Buerkle Circle, St. Paul MN 55110