Edward Charlie Arbuckle
Ed’s life spanned exactly 93 years. He was born in Oak Creek, Colorado on October 28, 1928 and he died at home in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 28, 2021, after a short illness.
The hospital where Ed was born was in Oak Creek but the family lived in nearby Phippsburg. Phippsburg was a small coal-mining town until rail was laid in the early 1900s from Denver, over the Continental Divide. From Phippsburg, the family moved when Ed was four to Denver where Ed spent a good part of his growing-up years.
Ed attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and it was during this time that he met Glenora, his wife of 22 years and the mother of Steven (b. 1955, d. 2006), Nancy (b. 1956), Carolyn (b. 1957), and Donald (b. 1963). Glenora had graduated from Boulder and was headed out to California. Ed followed her there and they were married in a small chapel at Grace Episcopal Church (now Grace Cathedral) in San Francisco in 1949. Ed finished his undergraduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley, earning a B.S. in Industrial Engineering in 1951. He then joined General Electric’s training program and the couple lived in different cities across the U.S. for several years.
During the Korean War, Ed served at the U.S. Army’s transportation Research and Development Command post at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Steve was born here in 1955. After discharge, Ed rejoined GE, this time at its Hanford Atomic Products Operation in Richland, Washington as an Industrial Engineer and Operations Research Analyst. Nancy and Carolyn were born in Richland.
The family moved to Seattle in 1961 where Ed earned his MBA (1961) and his Ph.D. in Business Analysis (1963) from the University of Washington. Donald was born in Seattle.
In 1963 the family moved from Seattle to Santa Barbara, California where GE’s “Think Tank,” TEMPO, was located. Ed started his long career at TEMPO at this time and the family moved into a new house in one of nearby Goleta’s burgeoning subdivisions.
At TEMPO, Ed worked on and oversaw many projects during his 17 years there, starting with an Anti-Submarine Warfare data analysis project spanning 6 years. He served as a Project Leader for UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, in 1968, stationed in Vienna and Belgrade. After that, his projects took him to Tokyo (a modeling study of Tokyo traffic), Saudi Arabia (feasibility studies for a flat glass plant and the heavy equipment business), Korea (establishment of an industrial standards system and a DOE-sponsored study of energy use), Kuwait (an all-modes transportation feasibility study), and Egypt (glass plant production).
Ed’s life was irrevocably changed when his wife, Glenora, died suddenly and unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage in late 1971, leaving him with four children, ages, 16, 15, 14, and 8.
In the following year, Ed married Ruth Marian Haneberg and in 1973 Ruth Ann, named for her two grandmothers, was born. Ed’s marriage to Marian ended in divorce in 1978.
On January 3, 1981, in San Francisco, Ed married Judy Bellomy with whom he shared 40 years of happiness and loving support. After their marriage, Ed worked at GE departments in San Diego and Syracuse, ending his four decades of employment with the company (as engineer, systems analyst, and project manager) as a Military Systems Analyst and Proposal Engineer in GE’s Syracuse location in 1990.
In 1994, Ed and Judy moved to Las Vegas to care for Judy’s aging mother and stepfather. Photography and dancing became Ed’s passions in his post-retirement years. He took photos everywhere he went, enlarging, framing, and displaying the best ones. Ed and Judy danced at every opportunity and were always first on the floor when the band started playing.
Ed and Judy traveled extensively for decades. They made many trips centered around their interest in railroads. They were long-time members of the NRHS (National Railway Historical Society) and attended a number of their conventions. Ed also loved trolleys and streetcars. He and Judy joined the ERA (Electric Railroaders’ Association), and attended some of their conventions as well.
Ed leaves behind his beloved and loving wife, Judy, his children Nancy (Cedric), Carolyn (Jim), Donald, and Ruth Ann, his daughter-in-law Zippy, and his stepson Gary (Betty). He was devoted to his grandchildren Louisa, Sam, Anna, Leilani, Chloe (Mathew), Chelsea, Charlotte, and Sophie, and was thrilled at the arrival of his great-grandchild, Henry.
A private family memorial service is scheduled for April 2022. Contributions in Ed’s memory may be made to the Nature Conservancy: https://www.nature.org/enus/