Funeral services will be held Wednesday, December 22nd at 10:00 a.m. at the Evangelical Free Church in Burlington, CO. Public visitation will be held beginning at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 21st at the Brown & Latimer Funeral Home, 2910 Senter Street, Burlington, CO.


Edward Jason Enyart entered this life on Oct. 9, 1922, near Quapaw, Oklahoma,

one of six children born to Luther and Myrtle Enyart. Grandpa Ed passed away

Saturday, December 18, 2010 in Parker, Colorado at the age of 88.


Ed spent his childhood on the family farm south of Galena, Kansas where he

attended Cherry Grove School. While living on the farm one summer afternoon a

car went past at a high rate of speed, honked and waved at Ed - it was Bonnie

and Clyde. They were on the run following a bank robbery in Joplin, Missouri.

His father passed away December 8, 1933 when Edward was 11. Due to his

father's death the family had no choice but to move into town. He helped his

mother support their family by cutting grass and weeds, hoeing gardens and

flower beds and working in the orchard full time during the summer months.

During the last 2 years of high school he worked for Hardwick's Grocery after

school and on weekends. He attended Galena High School, graduating with the

class of 1942. During his high school years he was very active in sports with

track and basketball being sports he excelled in. He was never on a B team always

the A squads and was selected all-conference and all regional his senior

year.


Following high school graduation in the fall of 1942 he went to Coffeyville,

Kansas where he started Coffeyville Junior College. He had been invited to

attend school by the coach of Coffeyville Junior College Red Ravens basketball

team because he was such a good player in high school. Due to World War"

the Red Ravens could not field a team so the coach lined him up a job at Sears

Roebuck and had a place for him to stay with room and board. He worked at

Sears selling hardware, sporting goods, paints, appliances and anything they

gave him. It was while he was working at Sears that he met his first wife Dorothy

Huffman, who worked in the accounting department. He was praised at Sears as

his cash drawer was never off - not even a penny!


Uncle Sam was taking boys out of college nearly every day and Ed received his

notice to report for a physical in Baxter Springs, Kansas. Following the physical

he went to Joplin, Missouri, as he wanted to get in the Navy and further his

education. The only thing available was the V5 program (Navy Flight Training)

so he took the exam and passed. On June 3, 1943, his mother passed away and

on June 9, 1943 Ed reported to William Jewell College in Liberty Missouri to

begin Navy flight training. Training took him on to Chadron, Nebraska, Great

Lakes, Iowa City, Ottumwa, Iowa, Corpus Christi, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida

and others along the way. He trained to fly different aircraft, excelled in manual

navigation and was credited for saving the lives of many other pilots who were

not as skilled. He learned to land and take off on aircraft carriers including the

Guadalcanal. He received his orders to report to San Diego, California for

deployment to the Pacific. He was a member VB-17, a very famous bombing

squadron which he has always been extremely proud of and wanted everyone to

know and remember him by. Ed was given 14 days leave prior to reporting to

San Diego from which he would be entering military action in the Pacific and was

flying on a commercial airline when, just as the plane was landing, it was

announced that Japan had surrendered and the war was over. At that point Ed

caught another plane to Wichita, Kansas where Dorothy Huffman was now

working for Cessna Aircraft. They then traveled to Coffeyville, Kansas where

they got married on August 25, 1945. His Navy commitment then took them on to

San Diego, Oakland, Ca., Alameda Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nevada and to

Brunswick, Maine where VB-17 was being disbanded and Ed received his

honorable discharge August 12, 1946.


Ed and Dorothy moved back to Coffeyville, Kansas where he attended Coffeyville

Junior College, receiving his associates degree on May 28, 1948. Following

college his dream was to become a dentist but dental schools were full.

International Telegraph School was looking for students as the railroads needed

telegraphers and were offering a 40-hour work week. He was accepted into

telegraph training where he learned the Morse code. Following 6 months of

training he applied at the Rock Island office in Fairbury, Nebraska and was hired

immediately on July 25, 1949. Ed spent several more weeks training in Lebanon,

Kansas and Genoa, Colorado.


Ed and Dorothy welcomed their first child, Janice Kay, born Oct. 16, 1949, in

Coffeyville, Kansas. On November 4, 1949 Ed was assigned to work in

Burlington, Colorado for the Rock Island Railroad, a place he would call home for

the rest of his life. On November 29, 1950 a second child was welcomed to the

family, Jeffrey Irvin Enyart. The family was growing and work with the railroad

was demanding. During these early years with the railroad over 30,000 train car

loads of rock were received for the construction of Bonny Dam. A third son,

Edward Michael was born April 7, 1953 and the fourth son, James John, on Feb.

18, 1955.


Work on the railroad was demanding due to the amount of wheat being shipped,

cattle were transported by rail, fertilizer, coal and with farmers beginning irrigation

of their fields sugar beet production began in earnest and Ed shipped out an

average of 60 train car loads of sugar beets per day with a record of 206

carloads in one day. He worked 7 days a week, 12 hours per day during sugar

beet season. Railway Express, Western Union, the passenger train, the Rocket

and the milk train were also a part of the depot activity.


Sports remained a part of Ed's life - he played a lot of softball and bowled on

several leagues every week before golf came into his life. Golfing began on the

old golf course with sand greens. He and Dot golfed every chance they got and

were very active in the Burlington Golf Club. Ed always enjoyed working with

wood and constructed their home at 814 14th St., which they moved into in 1964.

Dorothy passed away January 24, 1973. Ed took five months off during that time

to take care of Dot and changed his status on the Rock Island to the extra board

which required him -to work at six different depots in Colorado and Kansas when

he went back to work. Finally, in the fall of 1975, he was able to move back

permanently to his job at the Burlington depot.


In 1976 the town of Burlington held a fall festival that included a cake walk. You

pay 25 cents and walk in a circle of numbered squares. When the music stops a

number is drawn and if you are on that number you win a cake. Ed won right

away, picked up his cake and Lyla Davis stepped up, took the cake from him and

said she would help him eat it - it was too much for one person. This began a

relationship that resulted in marriage at her farm on May 14, 1977 and a larger

family that now included Glenda ( Jerry) Resch, Nolan(Sheila) Davis,Teddy(Kandi) Davis and Stan(Talana) Davis and their children. Ed and

Lyla made their home on the farm until they purchased a home on the new

Prairie Pines Golf Club north of town which they moved into July 22, 1977. What

a perfect location for them as they spent lots of time golfing and watching the

golfers from their deck. Ed hit his first hole in one on that course on the fourth

hole while playing with his son Jim as a witness.


Ed retired from the Rock Island Railroad on April 10, 1980 when the railroad

closed down operation. His wife Lyla passed away suddenly on March 9, 1997.

Grandpa Ed remained in the home on the golf course where he enjoyed his

golfing, gardening, flowers and having a beautiful yard until he suffered a life changing

fall in his home in 2007. Due to declining health issues he made his

home with his daughter Jan and family for the rest of his life.


Ed always enjoyed his sports - bowling and winning tournaments, golfing and

always playing for those quarters (even when he was sick)! He was on the town

council, served on the city charter commission and was a lifetime member of the

VFW. He loved watching football, baseball, rodeo and whatever sports the kids

participated in. He ran track and beat older students. He played baseball and

softball he swam and taught his kids how to swim. He participated and taught

golfing to everyone he could and always expected you to do the best and be the

best.


Ed was a hard worker - farming with teams of horses when he was a young child

to building a house in later years. He painted his own homes and did painting for

others. He loved gardening, always providing lots of tomatoes and spinach to all

the neighbors. He loved to hunt and fish and really enjoyed it when the fishing

was good! He loved to travel and took many trips including a trip to Scotland

and London. He loved his family and always wanted everyone to get along.

Grandpa Ed loved to tell his stories about the Navy and the fact that he was a

dive bomber pilot to anyone that came close! He was always so proud of his

service to his country and wanted everyone to know it. VB-17 held a very special

spot in his life.


Ed was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Jack, sisters Beulah,

Bertha, Marie and Ruth, son Michael Edward, his wife Dorothy, his wife Lyla,

son-in-law Harry Covey and great granddaughter Mindy. He is survived by his

children Jan (Ron) Roberson of Parker, Jeff (Lee) Enyart of Park City, Utah and

Jim (Dalene) Enyart of Canby, Oregon. He is survived by Lyla's children Glenda

(Jerry) Resch of Port Orchard, Washington, Nolan (Sheila) Davis of Thornton,

Teddy (Kandi) Davis and Stan (Talana) Davis of Burlington. Also surviving are

lots of grandchildren and great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. The family met with many of Eds friends during a visitation in the Brown & Latimer Funeral Home on Tuesday.

Funeral services were held Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 at the Evangelical Free

Church in Burlington. The VFW served as pallbearers with Ed's grandchildren

serving as honorary pallbearers. Burial was at Fairview Cemetery with the VFW

providing full military honors.


A memorial fund has been established at the Bank of Burlington in Ed's name for

the VFW Post 6491 or can be dropped off at the Brown & Latimer Funeral Home in Burlington, CO.