Edward C. Filstrup

Edward C. Filstrup passed away on August 23, 2008, at Lakeland Medical Center after suffering a brief illness. Graveside services will be held on Monday, August 25, at 3 p.m. at Riverview Cemetery. Visitation will be held at Starks & Menchinger Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Rd; St. Joseph, MI from 5-7 p.m., also on Monday. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at the funeral home on Tuesday, August 26, at 4 p.m. Contributions may be made to United Way of Southwest Michigan or a charity of choice. He was born in Benton Harbor in 1916 and attended Benton Harbor High School. As a student, he built model airplanes, some of which flew so well that they would land in area homes and had to be returned to Eddie. After graduating from high school, he attended Purdue University where he majored in mechanical engineering. After spending one year at MIT, he ventured to California to work for Lockheed during World War II. At Lockheed, he worked on the designing of the Constellation airplane. Just before departing for Los Angeles, he married Elizabeth (Betty) Merritt, uniting two prominent local families. After the war, Ed returned to St. Joseph to work at Covel Manufacturing Company, a family-owned machine tool company in Benton Harbor. He served as vice president and chief engineer from 1946 until 1968 when the family sold the company. Ed held several patents for his inventions. These included a high air pressure coal mining machine that was used in the United States and Europe and various other machine tools. After Covel’s was sold, Ed and Betty lived in Pakistan for four years where they served and nurtured the national Baha’i community. He was an inveterate chess player – continuing to play even on his 90th birthday. He loved to play golf, enjoyed the company of his family and his many friends, and had a wonderful sense of humor. His wife died in 1997. Ed is survived by his children, Chris (Laurie) Filstrup who live on Long Island, NY; Paul Filstrup (Nancy Askin) and Mary (George) Wilson, residing in St. Joseph; nine grandchildren; and six greatgrandchildren. Ed had two siblings, Lewis who is deceased and Nancy Clark (Gene) Byrne who lives in Benton Harbor.