Obituary - Edith M. Mead

Tuesday, December 22, 1998
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Longtime Juneau resident Edith May Mead died Dec. 21, 1998, at the Juneau Pioneers Home.

She was born Jan. 15, 1912, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Austin and Jennie Needham. She graduated in 1933 from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Household Science. She continued her education at Vancouver General with a post-graduate degree in dietetics, and continued on at the Oregon State University where she met her husband Henry Mead. They were married Sept. 18, 1940, in Vancouver. B.C., and then moved to Juneau.

During World War II, they worked in Sitka, where she taught school. In the early 1950s they cleared land and built their home on Montana Creek Road. They also operated the Glacier Ice Company, getting ice from Mendenhall Lake and delivering it to local restaurants and bars.

She worked at the Auke Bay Post Office for many years and retired when she was 70. She loved to garden, read, play bridge and sew. Her grandchildren affectionately called her "Granny Goose,'' and her great grandchildren as "Great.''

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1968 and her daughter Catherine in 1988.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Linda and Denny Wahto, grandchildren Cheryl Dilg of Juneau, Erik Dilg and wife Staci of Olympia, Wash., Myiia Whistler and husband Geoff, and Tami Wahto, all of Juneau; great grand-children Bryan and Aaron Baker, Mathew Whistler and Connor Dilg. She is also survived by her sisters Alice Henry of Nanaimo, B.C., Maxine Street of Victoria, B.C., Shirley Johnson of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., and her brother, Leonard Needham of Summerland B.C.

At her request, there will be no funeral services. Donations may be made in her name to the Juneau Pioneers Home resident Council, 4675 Glacier Highway, Juneau, AK 99801.

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