Ed was born on November 28th, 1956 to Abe and Margaret Schroeder and joined older sister Hilda.  A few years later Bob completed the family.  His early years were filled with antics with his siblings on their large property along with a lot of work clearing the land and tending their strawberry fields and other gardens. The children got paid 25 cents per trailer load of roots and rocks that they had cleared from the field.  At the end of summer they pooled their money together to buy a mini bike.

As a child he enjoyed reading books along with playing Meccano which first ignited his interest in mechanics. He got a working model car for Christmas one year and had completed it by the time the rest of the family woke up. Many trails and tree forts were made in the back property by Ed and his siblings.

Every May long weekend along with a week in the summer, the family would pack up their truck and homemade camper along with the fishing boat and go to remote lakes to go fishing.  They would be eaten alive by bugs but enjoyed quality time together in the boat during the day and roasting marshmallows at night.

After high school he went straight into an apprenticeship for Heavy Duty Mechanics.  He got hired by Valley Rite Mix at the age of 18 and became a journeyman obtaining his Red Seal.  He really enjoyed the early days of his career which were filled with a great variety of different trucks and machinery to work on.  He got baptized alongside friends and officially joined Bethel Mennonite Church as a young adult.

One day, he went to play tennis with his buddy and it just so happened that Pauline was playing on the court right next to them. He took an interest in the pretty girl and had a sudden interest in keeping all the vehicles at Pauline’s family’s company mechanically sound.  Any chance to see Pauline was worth the time wrenching.

Always wanting to be as prepared as possible, Ed suggested they buy a house and rent it out before they got married. Pauline brought her money she had saved over the years working at her family’s company and Ed had a 1955 Ford F100 pick up truck that he poured so much sweat, love and pride into.  He regretfully sold the truck to buy their first house in Abbotsford.

He happily married Pauline on September 17, 1981.  The twins, Chris and Sandy joined the family shortly thereafter with Andrea and Trevor following in the years after.  As they raised their children, they looked forward to their annual May long weekend camping trips with lifelong friends to different locations in the interior every year.

Every summer a week was booked for camping in Osoyoos.  Great memories were made alongside friends with days filled with boating, sand, sun and fun.

In 1992, Ed was asked to come along on a mission’s trip to Tijuana as he had his bus driver’s license.  This bore in him a love for the Mexican people and over the next decade he led groups every year down to Mexico in a very packed and loud school bus.  Houses, orphanage add ons and a church were built alongside impactful relationships.  Ed would do a morning bakery run and picked up his daily order of glass coca cola bottles from a local corner store.

As their children met their significant others, many beloved grandchildren were added to the family.  He impatiently waited for all his grandchildren to be old enough to be given smarties that he would hand out at every opportunity.  Wanting to set a good example for his grandchildren, he went back to school to finish his grade 12 graduation along with a friend.  A grad party was held to celebrate this achievement at the age of 57.

As he approached and entered into retirement, he went on many trips with Pauline pulling their trailer throughout Canada and the US.  They treasured their trips visiting museums, exploring beautiful sights in nature and spending time together.

When Ed retired at 64 after so many loyal years with Lafarge filled with long, working hours, he treasured his free time.  He spent many hours in his shop building a go kart for the grandkids, building a dune buggy for himself and tinkering on so many projects.  He planned trips with friends to go for walks, check out local museums and to go on drives together.  Ed loved his dune buggy and enjoyed driving around with his dune buggy crew.  He spent much more time with his grandchildren while bringing them to school, attending their sports games and hanging out with them in his shop and house. He also spent countless hours behind the wheel of his boat in Oroville towing the tube and teaching them how to kneeboard and water ski. He even started teaching them how to drive the boat.

Ed always had a huge heart for single moms and those who were struggling.  He worked on so many cars, lawn mowers and even school popcorn makers for those who could never pay him back and would brainstorm solutions for the trickiest of problems.  He had a quiet humility and would not bring any attention to himself as he worked diligently to help those in need.

Early in the new year, Ed began to feel under the weather, which progressed to extreme exhaustion. CT scans were done and multiple cancerous tumours were found in several places that were found to have spread too far for a cure. Ed spent a week at home resting and sharing memories with his family before he was admitted to hospice and passed away on Sunday, Feb 9 with Pauline and his family by his side.

He was so very loved by many friends and family.