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Edward T McHam
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Edward Thomas McHam
Edward Thomas McHam was born January 3, 1946, in Edinburg, Texas, to D.H. and Marion McHam. He passed away Saturday morning, June 1, 2013, at a local nursing home. Mr. McHam was a pipeline welder and a car salesman by trade. He was also a member of Oakland Heights Baptist Church. Graveside services will be held at Arlington Cemetery in Homer, La., at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of Rader Funeral Home of Longview.
Edward was preceded in death by his father, Dub Hulen "D.H." McHam; his daughter, Hayley McHam Byrd; and his brother, Richard McHam.
Those left to cherish his memory are his son, Edward Hulen McHam of Round Rock, Texas; his daughter, Maryah Danielle Bennett (Sandy) of Seguin, Texas; his son, Lucas McHam of Kingsport, Tenn.; his brother, Allen McHam (Teresa) of McKinney, Texas; his sister, Pamela Sansom (Howard) of Benton, La.; his granddaughter, Sabrina Bennett of Seguin, Texas; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family requests that memorials be made to Parkinson's Research: American Parkinson Disease Association, Inc., Parkinson Plaza, 135 Parkinson Ave., Staten Island, NY 10305-1425, www.apdaparkinson.org; or to the College Scholarship Fund at Oakland Heights Baptist Church, 1600 Judson Road, Longview, TX 75601.
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Carol Lynn Bigger (Ford)
So sorry to hear about Ed's passing. We communicated on fairly regular basis over the years until his Parkinsons Disease progressed to advanced state. I continued to get reports from Richard until quite a bit of time passed with no emails, then saw on another classmates site that he had died. Ed will always have a special place in my heart.
Carol
Allan Hall Burbage
Ed was a good friend in those crazy, wonderful high school days. He was a great auto mechanic and always had cool cars....so important to teens our age.... It was with great sadness that I learned of his passing, but know his family is consoled by the quality of his life, and those who loved and admired Ed.
RIP, old friend, RIP.........
Allan
Gary Sims
I didn't know Ed too well in High School. Mostly, I knew of his affinity to cars. And, as Allan points out these were important to us all at that age.
The last memory of being with Ed in high school was topping the then new "hill" on the extension of U.S 59 to then under construction I-20 at about 110 MPH. I was in the the back seat of his GTO. I think we achieved "airborne" status.
The last memory of Ed after high school was at the 2004 reunion. We briefly chatted during the evening, as we did with a lot of our classmates, and I found out that Ed had driven from Tennessee to be at the reunion. While talking with ED, I did notice a slight problem with his speech where he kind of had trouble picking out the "right" words to say. I didn't think much about it at the time though.
As the evening wore to a close, Tucker came over to me and asked me if I would walk with Ed back to the motel which was next door to the place we had the reunion gathering. Tucker knew both Ed and I were staying at the motel and quietly explained that Ed had Parkinson's disease and he wanted to make sure he got back to his motel room OK. I said I would be glad to do that.
As I walked with Ed back to the motel, I was struck by the fact that he had driven, alone, 700 to 800 mles to attend the reunion and told him so. He told me he was fine once he was in the car and driving and that he often sang along with songs on the radio as he was driving with no speech problems. It was, he said, as if he did not have a deadly disease when he was driving. I could not think of anything more appropriate than Ed, the "car guy" in high school, being comfortable driving his car.
I have often thought of Ed's courage and strength in making the trip to the 2004 reunion and was looking forward to relating those thoughts to him at the upcoming 2014 reunion, but, unfortunately that will not be possible now.
Gary
Patti Dickerson (Parker-Boerner)
When Phil was working on a pipeline gig in Columbia, Kentucky, Ed was working with him. I rarely had a chance to chat with him, but I will never forget one day. In crisis I had to drive myself to the hospital because I couldn't awaken Phil. Little Philip was with me and we had to stay the night. In the morning, who was there to see about me but Ed McHam. I don't know how he knew I was there. He was such a comfort in a truly scary time. Thank God his trials are over. He's driving those chariots all over Heaven!
Tom Banks
In high school I remember Ed well. That black 58 Impala with the 348. I'm sure Leslie Lawrence remembers it well. I too was hoping to see Ed at the next reunion. Spent a bit of time talking with Ed at the last reunion. Parkinson's is a terrible disease. My brother passed because of it a couple of years ago. Ed-we'll miss you
Tom Banks