Edward Marsden Rawson Jr.

Edward Marsden Rawson, Jr., 78, died at his home on October 19, 2012, when his great heart finally stopped beating. Ted was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on January 21, 1934, the son of Edward Marsden Rawson, of Winthrop, Massachusetts, and Ethel Frances Nickerson, of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia.

After earning a bachelor of science degree in marine and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, he served in U.S. Merchant Marine as an engineer, in the U.S. Navy on active duty in the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Artic, and in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He had a life-long love of the ocean.

Ted worked for 39 years at General Electric Corporation, selling engines used for marine and industrial applications in countries around the world. He had a passion for getting to know other cultures and other places. During his career at GE, he lived and worked in New York, Virginia, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Ohio, as well as in Great Britain, Singapore, and Indonesia.

While in Virginia, Ted met his wife of 52 years and the love of his life, Phyllis, whom he often called “Phylly.” Robert Frost wrote that “the heart can think of no devotion greater than being shore to the ocean.” She was his shore to the end.

Ted was fearless – or at least if he had any fears, he never showed them. He had an irrepressible optimism, and he never looked back. Many wondered how one so fiercely dedicated to his work could ever give it up, but when he retired to Savannah and then to Charlotte, he played as hard as he had worked.

Ted grew up on the water and had a passion for sailing and racing boats. He was always in demand to crew boats because of his innate ability to read the wind, the waves, and the currents. He instilled his love of sailing in his daughter, Tobey, from her earliest years, much of which were spent on – and in -- Lake Pontchartrain.

Ted’s other great passion was golf. He was a devoted student of the game, always seeking to achieve the perfect swing, as the dings in his furniture would attest. (To his great credit, he took pride in the fact that his wife could achieve the same result without any practice at all.) He acknowledged no limitations. When his hospice doctor said, “I understand you were a golfer,” Ted immediately responded, “I still am.”

Ted’s granddaughters loved the fact that the kid in him was never far beneath the surface. Like them, he loved the surprise of presents and the excitement of rides in his convertible. And as they would say, he made a mean grilled cheese sandwich.

Ted is survived by his wife, Phyllis Craighead Rawson; his daughter, Tobey Rawson Wilson; his stepdaughter, Corby Cochran Anderson, and her husband, James William Anderson; his three granddaughters, Katherine Mackenzie Wilson, Carling Elizabeth Anderson, and Annye Grace Anderson; and his sister, Jane Rawson Mugford, and her husband, Richard Mugford.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, October 22, at 2:00 p.m. at Harry & Bryant Co., 500 Providence Road, in Charlotte, with Dr. Terry Moore and Rev. Ed Briggs of Weddington United Methodist Church officiating. His family will receive friends from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be given to the American Heart Association.