Edward John Bougie

Edward John Bougie was born in Grand Forks, ND on 10/15/1932. He was the sixth child of Wilbur and Antoinette Bougie. His oldest sister, Annette was 17 years older than him and his closest sibling in age is Virginia who is four years older. He was called Edward by his mother, Ed by most, and Eddie by friends. He became Uncle Ed at ten years old to Paul and Catherine and eventually Uncle to 15 nieces and nephews.

His father Wilbur was a switchman for Burlington Northern Railroad and was also an excellent carpenter. Dad lived in many houses around Grand Forks as his father would build a house, the family would live in it awhile and then they would sell it and his dad would build another. His three brothers, Gustave, George and Robert served in World War II. It is hard to imagine him as a young boy having all his brothers gone to war.

He attended Academy of St. James. Many people have the impression of dad that he is quiet. We do too; however, we found his report cards from St. James. In 11th grade his home room teacher Sister Francis Anne gave him a D with the comment “Too much loud talking”. What? Is that our father? Was there someone he was sweet on? In the second quarter he slipped a little more D- and that he was disturbing others. In quarter three he rallied for a B and Sister Frances said it was a wonderful improvement. Then he slipped a little to B- and her comment was “don’t go downhill Ed”. When reading this to him he just laughed. He was a three-sport star at Saint James: a leather head playing both sides of the line in football, basketball, and baseball. In the summertime he played American Legion baseball playing against the future great Roger Maris from Fargo. He was not just a jock, he was also a member of the Glee club and one of the songs they sang was the “whiffenpoof” song…really, look it up!

His first job was paperboy for the Grand Forks Herald. An article in the Herald on August 22, 1944 says he delivered and collected in 8 hours netting him 84 cents per hour, which he used for clothes and war bonds. He was able to save $400 and spends his spare time making model airplanes. He eventually worked in the mail room. Perhaps this is where learned to enjoy reading the paper on a daily basis. The next job was as an usher in a movie theatre creating his life-long love of going to the movies. When we were young and we wanted to go to the movies it went like this. Dad, “who you going with? What are you seeing? And what is it rated?”

He used to ride the train as a youngster to visit his oldest sister Annette in Washington State. He had a scholarship to play football at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, but as he told the story when he got there it wasn’t what he signed up for. He returned home and worked three jobs to save money for college and enrolled at the University of North Dakota (UND). One of those jobs was in a tobacco company saying he stuffed the tobacco. This is interesting because he never smoked tobacco and didn’t enjoy being around it. He was in ROTC for a year and played on the practice squad for football while at UND.

He was then sent to Fort Bliss, Texas during the Korean War. He served from January 1953 to January 1955. He rose in rank from Private to Sargent leading a unit of field artillery soldiers. Dad was always a saver of money and great at accounting. Again, Sister Francis Anne marked him in this subject in 12th grade with an A. Well, he had a side hustle while at Fort Bliss. The other soldiers would get their pay and head out to the bars. Dad didn’t do this so much so he retained his earnings. Fellow soldiers would come back broke and have to borrow money from the local accountant, Dad. He was very modest about his years of service.

He met our mother Marie at a dance in Grand Forks but did not see him while he was gone to Texas. When he returned from his service, he asked Marie for a date and because he would not tell her where they were going, she made a date with a guy named Dennis. When Dennis showed up for the date at Marie’s apartment her roommate Lorraine needed a date so Dennis went down to a bar to find her one and showed up with Ed! After a good laugh all four went dancing, Ed with Marie. Dennis was not too pleased and refused to take Ed to his car when they dropped off the ladies.

After his discharge from the Army, he was back at the University of North Dakota majoring in Accounting in the School of Business. Ed proposed to Marie after hitting a winning home run at a softball game, popping the question behind a potato bin. The formal engagement took place on Marie’s birthday (4/13) when Ed presented her with her birthday present, an engagement ring. They were married on July 30, 1957 at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Warsaw, ND. This is the church our mom grew up attending and is a historical landmark. This made him an instant uncle to an additional 11 nieces and nephews who adored him. Their honeymoon took them to stops in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Chicago where they spent time on the beach. While there they bought a 57 Chevy and returned to Grand Forks. Mom supported them working at the Ryan Hotel and they lived with his parents until he graduated.

After he graduated with a degree in business, he could not find a job and worked in a slaughterhouse (he said his worst job) and as a carpenter with his brother-in-law Edwin Walski. Mom and Dad had Julie in 1958 and decided to move their family to California with the plan to land in Long Beach as our mom used to work in hotels in the winter when she was single and she knew the area. However, true to Midwestern culture they stopped in San Bernardino to visit friends from Grand Forks. They liked the area and he landed a job doing the books for an ice company. Soon he accepted a job with the State of California as a tax auditor. It was a good thing because Phil was born in 1959 arriving 11 months after Julie, then came Joan in 1962, Jackie 1964, Janet 1967, Paula 1969 and Tim in 1973.

It was important to our parents that we knew our family in North Dakota. Dad’s vacation time was spent driving a station wagon for 2 ½ days to North Dakota to be with our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We spent time on farms and driving to different family members homes for dinners. We went camping and fishing and had marathon card games. Most importantly we were together as a family, pulling into motels off the highway, all jumping into bed to drop coins in the massager and pool time with dad throwing us in the air.

Dad continued his love of sports and games both as a player and spectator. He played in softball and bowling leagues, and of course, golf. He enjoyed playing cards…pinochle, whist, Shanghai, and cribbage. He learned to play cribbage from his Maternal Aunt Emma’s husband John McGovern. He played cribbage with Julie, Bob, and Phil. He last played golf in March 2020 at 88 years old and bowled at the age of 90. He continued playing Shangai in family games and cribbage up until about a month before passing.

His love of sports was passed down to his children and grandchildren. He could arguably make the claim he has the Guinness Book of World Record for the number of games and matches he watched for 2 generations. He sat through little league, softball, swimming, wrestling, volleyball, and soccer games from 1965 through 2024 watching grandchildren play baseball and volleyball this past year!

He was a member of Our Lady of Assumption (OLA) Catholic Church since 1959 (65 years) and served the church helping with building structures and serving on the church council. He also helped with accounting. He was also active with the school as all seven of us attended 8 years at OLA school. He was a caller for bingo and worked many fun fairs.

After losing our mom in 2008 he had a lot to learn. He leaned into dancing. We said he danced on the senior circuit. He went to dances 2-3 times per week at different senior centers; Highland, Patton, and Chino. He said it was difficult to be “stag” at these dances and soon landed a dance partner, Mary who he enjoyed dancing with for 12 years. Between dancing, golf, and attending grandchildren events he had a very busy life. He continued enjoying going to the movie theatre and was at the gym a couple times a week. He was able to dance up to 2021.

The past two years he enjoyed family dinners, grandkids sporting events, the birth of two great-grand daughters, and playing cards. He had a wonderful 90th birthday celebration enjoying family and friends.

Edward is survived by his sister Virginia, his children Julie (Robert Bakas), Phillip (Erin Graeber), Joan (Dennis Doyle), Jacqueline (Melanie Estes), Janet (Michael Bradley), Paula (Stephen Thomas), and Timothy. He has twelve grandchildren who adore him: Scott Bougie, Eric Bougie (Estefany), Kurt Doyle (Amanda), Ryan Doyle (Aireana), Travis Bradley, Jessica Bradley, Sarah Bradley, Jacob Bradley, Kylie Thomas, Ty Thomas, Garrett Bougie, and Gracie Bougie. He has two great grandchildren Blakely Doyle and Daphne Doyle. He is preceded in death by our mother Marie (2008) and his parents Wilbur and Antoinette, sister Annette, and brothers Gustave, George, and Robert.