September 30, 1924 – February 7th, 2023
Edward Dreessen passed away at his home in Palo Alto, California on February 7th from cardiac arrest. He was 98. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Lisa Singer Dreessen, and his five children, Ingrid Powell, Edward Dreessen, Jr., and Cecile Dreessen, and Mark Dreessen and Dana Dreessen, as well as two step daughters Amanda Singer and Suzanne Olson. He had 6 grandchildren, Courtland, Holiday and Cooper Powell, and Sam, Ramzi, and Amina Dreessen, and one great grandchild, Cater Thompson.
Edward was born in San Francisco to Gertrude Elliot of Travemuende, Germany and the elder Edward Dreessen and attended Lowell High School and the University of California, Berkeley briefly until World War II when he became a United States Army Air Corps lieutenant, co-pilot and bombardier. He served in Bury St. Edmonds in England where he was awarded an Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross. He flew 35 missions over Germany, France, and the Benelux countries in 1944 and was also a member of the “Lucky Bastard Club” of pilot Class 43-16/Eighth Air Force survivors of that conflict.
His professional life was in building, as a real estate broker (Bee and Dee Sales), lumber company executive (Minton Lumber Company vice-president), owner of his own company (Home Lumber Centers), and building contractor. As a private person his interests were eclectic and serious, and ranged from reading and writing poetry to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism to aikido to ballet to French cuisine and travel, to transpersonal psychology. He wrote hundreds of poems and honed his style down from early lengthy tomes to his Haiku-like later pieces which rarely exceeded a page and usually were less than a hundred words, exquisitely chosen, and focused on the moments of mental clarity we all sometimes have in life in the areas of natural beauty, human connection, and philosophical wonder. He enjoyed intense physical activity and went to his gymnasium 3 times a week to the end of his life, entering and leaving with his walker in his final weeks at age 98, a marvel to all who witnessed it. He loved to row.
Edward was a member of the local Japanese Buddhist church, founded Nikko Ju-jitsu and Aikido School in Mountain View, danced ballet in his 40s, often traveled by French freighter in a stateroom from San Francisco to Europe to hone his French before visiting France. He achieved black belt ranks in both jujitsu and aikido, and explored the “realms of human consciousness” at the Esalen Institute where he served as a resource, student and participant for many years.
Edward was a private and reserved person to the end of his days. He will be cremated and no funeral or memorials are planned as per his wishes.