Ed

Cline

Edward F. Cline passed away Thursday, May 25 at his residence.

Ed was born to the late E. Arnold and Marceil (Zartman) Cline on December 20, 1932 in Paulding County, Ohio. He grew up on two different farms in the county with his parents.  He has four loving brothers:  Richard A. (Mary Jane), Hicksville, James K. (Cathy), Antwerp, David H. (DoRetta), Antwerp, and Kenneth  L. (Nancy) Hicksville.  The five boys' ages range 18 years; Ed is the oldest.

He went to Antwerp school all 12 years. In high school, he was their star baseball pitcher.  He continued to play baseball and basketball way after high school.

In 1950, after graduating from high school, he was only 17 and too young to get a "good paying" job, so he shoveled grain for a farmer. A little of that went a long ways!

When he turned 18, he started working at Weatherhead in Antwerp during the construction of the factory. He and a buddy mixed all the mortar that went in to the manufacture of that building.

In 1951, Ed put his application in at Fiber Glass in Defiance. After the first day at work he went home and told his parents that he wasn't going to work there his whole life!  The company has changed names different times, and Ed retired from Johns-Manville after 38 years having worked his way up from the floor to being regional plant manager.

In October 1951, while working in Defiance, Ed started dating Arlene LaRue from Churubusco, Indiana, after Ed's mortar-mixing buddy introduced them. Within a few months of their new relationship, Arlene's father was called to his first church, Rodney Church of the Brethren, located 60 miles north of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Unbeknownst to Arlene, her mother had invited Ed to ride up to Michigan with them for a weekend visit. Her mother must have approved of the relationship because Arlene and Ed had already said their good-byes, and extending this type of invitation was so unlike her mother.

While Arlene was a high school student in Michigan in 1952, her relationship with Ed continued long-distance. In December of that year Ed was drafted into the army.  His basic training was at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri.  He and Arlene married in her father's church on May 29, 1953 before Ed was shipped overseas.

Ed went by ship to Germany into the army engineer division. While in the service there, he helped to build pontoon floating bridges across the Rhine River and was in charge of the supply room.  Arlene remained with her parents in Michigan and worked at the Wolverine glove factory in Big Rapids.

In the service, Ed played intramural softball and basketball, giving him a welcome break from military duties. He also excelled at table tennis and took on one of Germany's top players in that area and beat him. (At least the guy thought he was the best!)

After two years in the military, Ed returned to the states and picked up Arlene in Michigan and returned to his parent's house in Paulding County while they looked for an apartment in the Defiance area. Ed was getting into his mom's kitchen cabinets when his little four-year-old brother put his hands on his hips and asked his mother, "Is that guy out there really my brother?"

After the service, Ed returned to his factory job. He and Arlene set up housekeeping and started their family in Defiance.  At the plant, Ed became known as "Mr. Pipe Insulation."

Ed and Arlene are blessed with three children. Randy and Barb Live in Hicksville, Darwin and Darla live on the farm in Paulding County where the family moved in 1972, and Janice and Bill Bangle live in Groveland, Florida.  They have six grandchildren:  Timothy, Jordan, Alex, Kimberly, Alicia, and Aimee, and five great-grandchildren:  Wyatt, Eliza, Adele, Lily and Landon.

When his kids were growing up in Defiance, Ed helped with the "Bunny League" and the Little League" baseball teams. When the boys were in high school in Paulding in the mid 1970's, Ed was asked to be the speaker at the boys' FFA banquet.  He went to the podium, took a sheet of paper from his suit jacket, unfolded it and proceeded to talk.  After the banquet, FFA president Wayne Noffsinger said to Ed, "There was nothing on that paper."

Ed said, "I know. It was a crutch."

In 1979 he was transferred to the Penbryn, New Jersey plant to be the superintendent. He had always been highly regarded in the company.  As a regional manager, Ed had all the northeast territory from part of North Carolina to the Canadian border and all of Pennsylvania on east.

Johns-Manville executives told Ed "to run it like he owned it." And Ed did well.  One night, Arlene came home from a meeting to find a large man in their home with Ed.  Suspecting theft in the factory, Ed had called a detective from the Pinkerton Agency to investigate, and the safest place to meet him was in their home while Arlene was away.

Often after returning from lunch at the factory, Ed was seen dead-heading the flowers in the large planters by the entrance. "There's nothing like having a former farmer for a plant manager," one of his employees said.

Ed learned to play golf while living in New Jersey. He found out the hard way that if you don't play golf when you go to the plant manager meetings, you got to be one to go to your hotel room and make lots of phone calls and do paperwork-not his favorite thing to do!

Travel was a highlight of Ed's time at Johns-Manville, Ed and Arlene, along with other higher-ups in the company, hosted trips for some of the customers to Hawaii, Ireland and Italy and in the last few years, Ed flew to the headquarters in Denver, Colorado once a month.

After 12 years in New Jersey, Ed retired, and he and Arlene moved back to Paulding County.

When Ed was growing up he had attended the Bethel United Methodist Church and enjoyed Youth Group.

When living in Defiance, he and Arlene attended the Defiance Church of the Brethren where Ed held many offices every year. He was a Sunday School teacher, the Sunday school superintendent, a Deacon and a youth counselor.  He was on the Northern Ohio Camp Board and did some of the work for the district executive secretary in this area.

When they moved to New Jersey, the closest Church of the Brethren was an hour drive to Philadelphia, so Ed and Arlene went "church shopping."

They decided to try the Methodist Church first since Ed had grown up in the United Methodist Church. Before they went to a service, Ed told his wife and daughter, "If they start the service with the hymn, 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' we will not be going back.  (When Ed was growing up in the Methodist Church the pastor had opened every service with that Hymn.

Sure enough, they sang it, and the Clines did not go back to that church, even though that is a beautiful song.

The Presbyterian Church is where they went the next Sunday. The time on the sign outside said that the worship service started at 11 a.m., but when Ed and Arlene walked in, they were just finishing taking up the offering.  Then they sang the last song.

Arlene told Ed, "That is the first time I've gone to church, didn't put anything in the offering plate, and didn't get my toes stepped on."

Ed and Arlene decided they would watch the outside sign to see if they corrected the time before the next service. Finally on Saturday they did, so they started attending the Presbyterian Church.

That is how the Clines became Presbyterian, and when they moved back to Paulding in 1991 with their daughter, her husband and their grandson, they started "church shopping" again and settled with the First Presbyterian Church in Paulding.

Ed was very active in both congregations. In New Jersey he sang bass in the Holy Ghost Traveling Band, which he really enjoyed.  One day the church had a "work day," and one of the members of their band did not recognize Ed in his ball cap and work clothes.  "Who is that guy?" she asked another church member.

Also at the New Jersey church, Ed was the chairman of the finance board, so he handled the business part of the congregational meetings. At one meeting, a couple who were not members yet, saw how people disagreed, how Ed handled the situation, and how everyone was still speaking afterwards.  The man said, "This is the church we want to join."

At the Paulding Presbyterian Church, Ed has been the "Jack of all trades," serving as Sunday school teacher, as a member of Session, and on the Finance, Building and Grounds, Nominating and Personnel Committees.

In 1996, Ed and Arlene joined the Gideons International, and Ed has served in various offices in the Paulding County Camp. Ed and Arlene have enjoyed going to the state conventions and conference.  The fellowship of the other Gideons is like nothing else, as well as hearing the cream of the crop speakers-The Bible Hour and Testimony speakers.

Ed and Arlene have been jumping over the mud puddles in life, but this last go around they have been wading thru the mud. But they know there are green pastures on the other side.  Jesus has prepared the way for each of us to be in heaven after this life.  While in the hospital in Toledo, the first question the chaplain asked Ed was "Are you ready to meet Jesus?"

Ed answered, "yes" without even a pause.

One of the doctors at the hospital asked Ed what his life's profession had been. Ed said, "I saved 60 people's jobs."

Nothing more was said until a day or two later when someone asked Arlene if Ed was a lawyer. She kind of chuckled and said, "No, he worked his way up to be a regional plant manager, and he had part of North Carolina up to the Canadian border and all parts east."

The man said, "Oh, he was the man!"

And the best is yet to come!

Funeral services will be conducted 11 AM Wednesday, May 31 at Den Herder Funeral Home, 1000 West Wayne Street, PO Box 27, Paulding, Ohio 45879.  Burial will be in Rivewview Memory Gardens.

Visitation will be  3 - 5 and 6 - 8 PM Tuesday at Den Herder Funeral Home, Paulding.  There will also be visitation on Wednesday from 10 AM until time of services.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations made to the Gideon's International, PO Box 426, Paulding, OH 45879 or Paulding Presbyterian Church.