Rev. Edward J. Granholm of Thonotosassa, formerly of Pownal and Brunswick, Maine, passed away in his sleep early Saturday evening, March 7, 2020, at 90 years of age. Born the youngest of five children to Charles Albert and Elin K. (Gädda) Granholm in White Plains, New York on December 27, 1929, he moved from town to town as his family would buy a house, live in it, fix it up, and sell it a few years later. He graduated from Stamford High School in Connecticut, attended Central Bible College (now Evangel University) in Springfield, Montana, and graduated from Eastern Bible Institute (now the University of Valley Forge) in Pennsylvania.
It was in college where his interest in sign language taught by sign language pioneer, Lottie Riekehof, led him to the ministry for the deaf. Edward met his wife to be, Ruth Helen Snow, at a youth camp in Limington, Maine, where they both worked in the snack shop. They married in 1954 and moved to Pownal, Maine, where they raised their family of four. Edward was ordained as a minister in the Assemblies of God, serving as a missionary to the deaf of northern New England from 1954, with an interval as a church planter in the 1960s, until his retirement and move to Palm Bay, Florida in 1998. He was widowed in 2009 and moved to Tampa in 2016.
Edward is survived by his sons, Harold Granholm of Tampa, Steven (Sue) Granholm of Brunswick, Maine, John (Pat) Granholm of Reston, Virginia., and his daughter Judy (Bill) Nace of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Friday evening, March 27 at Arise Church, 401 Pauls Drive, Brandon, Florida. Interment will be private at the convenience of the family at Fountainhead Memorial in Palm Bay, Florida with his wife of 54 years, Ruth.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18