Ed Myers, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Ed Myers
ED MYERS
Ed Myers was born in Terre Haute, Ind. in 1906. After the accidental death of his parents in 1909, he was placed in an orphanage. At about the age of twelve Walter and Sarah Bond, his foster parents, brought him to Valparaiso. He lived in Valparaiso until the depression of 1929. During the depression he drifted aimlessly about, as many young men did, "riding the rails" from town to town searching for work. A few of the jobs he found included window-washing in the Empire State Building in NYC, cooking in restaurants, and tunneling through mountains in Denver, Colorado.
Tired of traveling, he returned to Valparaiso to settle down. He went to work on the W.P.A. until the beginning of W. W. II. During the war he worked at the Kingsbury Ordinance Plant driving truck. In his spare time he gathered junk cars and scrap metal for recycling, as part of the vital war effort on the home front.
After the war ended he decided to go into general business for himself. Some of his ventures included a garbage route in the Flint Lake area, hauling stone for the Edgewater Beach Subdivision roads, digging ditches and installing water lines for the original Flint Lake Water Co. which, at the time, was under the ownership of William Frazier. He also did concrete and landscaping work and occasionally raized old buildings, one of which was the old city bus barn, now the site of Lowenstine's parking lot.
In 1961, wanting a slower pace, he gave up his business ventures and became the custodian of the old city dump west on 130 (Highway) until its closing in 1969. He continued to work for the city in the paint crew, painting school crosswalks and street curbs until his retirement in 1972.
Ed was a very warm-hearted individual whose home was always open to anyone. He and his wife Alta (usually pronounced Al-Dee) were the "adopted" parents of many a person and were often lovingly called the "Ma and Pa Kettle's" of Valparaiso.
Ed's favorite pastimes were fishing, card playing, and story telling. Being an avid fisherman, he was a well-known "figure" on Flint Lake, seemingly able to catch fish when no one else could.
During the winter months his pastimes turned to card playing and story telling. Friends never tired of sitting around his kitchen table playing cards or just hearing him reminisce of his "good old days".
Ed resided at 2107 Calumet Ave. for 31 years until his death in March of 1973. He left behind his wife, Alta, five sons, six daughters, and thirteen grandchildren.
Source: American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Porter County. 1976. A Biographical History of Porter County, Indiana. Valparaiso, Indiana: American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Porter County, Inc. 180 p.
Page(s) in Source: 138-139
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook