Edward Michael Jiongo, 82, of League City, Texas, passed peacefully to be with the Lord on Tuesday, September 18, after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson’s.

Ed was the third of four children born to Arnold and Rose Jiongo in Ramsay, Michigan, on April 23, 1936. When he was 15, Ed met the love of his life, Lyyle Marie Sanquist, at high school. Lyyle recalls that he was tall and very handsome and he also talked a lot. Lyyle invited Ed to the Twirp Dance and they never dated anyone else. Ed was the senior Class President and together they were Prom King and Queen.

Lyyle and Ed were Married on April 7, 1956, at Christ the King Catholic Church in Ramsay. Ed was in the Air Force so their honeymoon was a four day drive to Parks Air Force Base in California. That was just the beginning of many travels and adventures for them for the next 62 years!

Ed was stationed in North Africa for a year and an half and then sent to West Palm Beach Air Force Base. After discharge from the Air Force they moved to Oklahoma City where Ed was employed by Tinker Air Force Base by day and pursued his BS in Mathematics and Physics at night graduating with the highest GPA in his class.

In 1965 following his graduation, the family moved to League City where Ed accepted a position with Johnson Space Center. Ed worked in various directorates on the space shuttle until his retirement in 1992. They were blessed with four sons, Michael James, Christopher Arnold, Jeffrey Jay, and Gregory Allen. As such, for many years Ed coached Little League teams while Lyyle cheered them on and ran the concessions stands.

Ed was a Life Member of the Knights of Columbus both 3rd and 4th degrees. Lyyle and Ed enjoyed entertaining at their home, especially barbecuing around the pool, square dancing on the weekends as well as around the country each summer summer in their 5th wheel trailer. In their later years they traveled extensively on land and by sea, airplanes and cruises replaced their travel trailer. They were devoted grandparents and kept the Texas highways busy as the drove with their pups to attend their grandchildren’s sporting events and activities.

Ed, Grandpa, was a kind and loving husband, a very patient and hands-on father, (all of his sons inherited his ability to tinker and fix almost anything), and a very proud grandfather and great grandfather. He never met a stranger and seemed to know something about everything and would happily share that knowledge with a twinkle in his blue eyes. “Just to make a long story short”, Ed will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.

Ed is survived by his wife, Lyyle, his sister, Janet Tusa, sons and their spouses, Mike and Barbara, Christopher and Shannon, Jeffrey, Greg and Betsy, ten grandchildren, two great grandsons and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held at Crowder’s Funeral Home in League City on Monday, September 24 from 5-7 pm followed by a Rosary. Funeral Mass with be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Tuesday, September 25, at 10 am. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made in Ed’s memory to HOPE Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 261, Ironwood, MI 49938 or Second Chance Pets, www.secondchancepets.org.