In May 2003, Ed retired from Palomar College, along with 24 other faculty members. He embarked on a new career of travel and exploration, including Alaska, England and other countries in Europe. He also loved Montana and bought a beautiful mountain retreat at Big Mountain overlooking the quaint little town of Whitefish.

Since his retirement, Ed and I spent many hours in California and Montana discussing our teaching careers and our lives. We shared a number of similar interests, and our backgrounds in science overlapped in many ways. I always looked forward to his humorous e-mail messages and invitations to breakfast. His e-mail address of "prairiefalcon" was so perfect for a naturalist.

It is difficult to say goodbye to such a great man. He was truly one of the nicest persons I have ever met in my life. I will miss him very much. I am going to leave "prairiefalcon" in my address book. Maybe Ed will send me another message one of these days.