Ed Quade lauded by PICCA

Ed Quade has been involved with local issues and public service organizations for nearly all of his 87 years. The Presque Isle County Council on Aging (PICCA) just presented him with a certificate of achievement in recognition of his ?wisdom and support? as a director of the organization since its inception 31 years ago. In fact, Quade was involved with helping seniors for longer than that, having served as a county supervisor in the 1960s and, later, as a county commissioner when the law changed in Michigan and county governments were reorganized along standard guidelines.

Ray Foerster, president of PICCA and Barb Nagi, director both had high praise for Quade?s dedication and service to the community. He was the organization?s secretary/treasurer during the entire time he served on the board. Quade?s reputation extends beyond the boardroom out into the farm fields. County agents, fairs, and other aficionados of tuber plants have lauded his potato growing talents. He can talk more about the swollen underground stems of plants that store food in the form of starch and sugar than anyone else in the county.

HE WAS BORN on the family farm and still resides on part of that land while other younger family members have taken on the tilling and tending of the soil. He joined his first public organization in April 1941 when he entered the US Army. He had just completed boot camp and was looking forward to a furlough for the Christmas holidays when Japanese ?Zeroes? swooped into Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. ?Everybody?s leave was cancelled and we had to report fo

r duty immediately,? he said. Quade received two Purple Hearts for wounds he received during World War II. He fought in the Pacific Theater and was on Iwo Jima when the Marines raised the flag during that invasion.

Many fellows were in that war for a number of years. Quade saw the entire conflict, having served his country for four and a half years, from April 1941 to September 1945. Like the bachelor farmers of Lake Wobegon on the Prairie Home Companion radio show, Quade seemed to be too busy to get around to marriage. That all changed when he met the widow Lorene (Curtis) Wenzel and her seven children in 1972.

?I had to initiate the relationship, so I said to him, ?There?s a demolition derby down at the Alpena fairgrounds. Why don?t we go have a look,?? Lorene said. One thing led to another and pretty soon Ed and Lorene got hitched. Asked if he had to make any major changes in his lifestyle after living 54 years as a bachelor, Quade said just one word, ?Housework.?