EDWARD DOBSON (1950-2015)

Ed Dobson was born in Northern Ireland on Dec 30, 1949. He moved with his family to Pennsylvania in 1964, and joined our class in the fall of 1965.

Ed studied under the Scientific course and joined the soccer and wrestling teams.

After high school, he attended Bob Jones University and University of Virginia. At 23, he became dean of men at Liberty University. Several years later, he was named associate pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church. When the Moral Majority was organized in 1979, Jerry Falwell named Ed to the board. In the years between then and 2000 he moved through a series of pastorates, editorships and Christian advisory positions. He was quite popular as a preacher.

  Ed was diagnosed with ALS in 2000, and began producing a series of books and videos about the trials of living with the disease. His original diagnoses suggested a life expectancy of 2-5 years. Ed surprised everyone when he lived on for 15 years.

His story is easily accessed through the internet, including videos and tales of his religious life. He is most likely the most “Googled” of our 1966 classmates.

Ed died in Kent, Michigan on Dec 26, 2015. He was survived by his wife Lorna, 2 sons, one daughter, six grandchildren; and his sister, May.

From His Wife Lorna:

My husband is Ed Dobson, class of ’66 - two years off the boat from N. Ireland; 16 when he graduated. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2000, and is still living, but unable to travel or be in social settings. If anyone wants more information, he wrote 3 books after his diagnosis: Prayers and Promises (30 days short devotionals and prayers for dealing with life-threatening disease), The Year of Living Like Jesus, and Seeing through the Fog. Over a period of 5-6 years, some of the short stories from the first book were told in video form - you may look at edsstory.com - or look for 7 short (10-minutes or less) videos with accompanying reflection guide, called Ed’s Story, published by David C Cook, just released, but the last film was done 2 years ago. Each of these address thoughts and feelings as he dealt with his disease or responded to, interacted with others. Anyone who has dealt with losses in life can gain encouragement from them.  Ed passed away on Decembr 26, 2015.