STEARNS, Edward William 1909-2004

STEARNS, HELLING, JACOBSON, ALCOMBRACK, MONSON, PIERSMA, LEAFSTEDT

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner (email)
Date: 7/21/2004 at 19:41:35

#1:

STEARNS, Edward 1902-2004

Edward Stearns, 94, of Roseville, Calif., died Sunday, January 18, 2004, in Citrus Heights, Calif. Cremains will be interred in Richland Cemetery, Inwood.

Mr. Stearns was born March 22, 1902, in Inwood, the son of Waldo and Mabel Stearns. He worked at the family-owned newspaper, Inwood Herald; created, owned and operated a miniature golf course in Inwood from 1928-29 and attended the University of Iowa.

On December 28, 1934, he married Alice Helling in Luverne, Minnesota. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Canton, S.D., Le Mars and Sioux City. In 1944, he purchased the Inwood Herald from his father. In 1959, he purchased the Beresford Republic in Beresford, S.D. In 1964, the couple moved to California where he worked for newspapers in Greenfield and King City. He retired in 1969 and the couple moved to Richland, Wash., for 10 years before returning to California.

His wife died in January 1999.

Survivors include one son, Roy of Roseville; one daughter, Beverly of Richland; five granddaughters and six great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife and one grandson, Lowell Jacobson.

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#2:

Graveside services honoring Edward William Stearns, former owner, editor and publisher of The Inwood Herald weekly newspaper were held Tuesday, July 6, 2004, at the Richland Cemetery, Inwood.

Stearns, age 94, died Jan. 18, 2004, in Citrus Heights, Calif. His cremains were interred at the burial site next to his parents, Waldo Judson and Mabel M. Stearns, and his wife of 65 years, Alice M. (Helling) Stearns, who was interred at the Richland Cemetery in 2001.

W.J. Stearns was the owner, editor and publisher of the former Inwood Herald for 40 years, from 1905 to 1945, and his son Edward W. Stearns was owner from 1945 to 1959. For 54 years, the father and son ran the newspaper which is now known as the West Lyon Herald.

Edward Stearns was born in Inwood on March 22, 1909, and grew to manhood in this community. He attended the University of Iowa School of Journalism. His newspaper career included stints as a reporter at the Canton Sioux Valley News, the Le Mars Sentinel, and the Sioux City Journal, before assuming ownership of the Inwood Herald in 1945 just ahead of VJ Day.

Stearns left Inwood in 1959 to become owner-editor of the Beresford Republic in Beresford, S.D., until 1964. He then worked as editor of the Greenfield News in Greenfield, Calif.

In 1928, a young Stearns borrowed $700 from his father and built one of America's first miniature golf courses on a corner lot in Inwood. The enterprise earned enough money to pay Stearns' tuition and board at the University of Iowa. When he lost money in the stock market crash of 1929, he worked in the school's print shop and cafeteria, but lack of funds left him unable to continue his education. He returned to Inwood to work in his father's newspaper.

As a young newspaper reporter, Stearns climbed to the top of Mt. Rushmore to view the magnificent sculpture being created by Gutzon Borglum in the Black Hills. When he was 86, he wrote an article for South Dakota magazine about his 1938 adventure as part of the magazine's celebrating of the monument's 75th anniversary.

Stearns is survivied by Beverly Stearns Jacobson of Fairview, Texas, Roy Stearns of Roseville, Calif., four granddaughters and six great-grandchildren.

Attending the graveside service were his daughter and son and their spouses, Beverly and Lowell Jacobson and Roy and Jan Stearns; granddaughter, Julie Jacobson Alcombrack and her family, husband Jeff and children Spencer and Jessica, of Richland, Va.; niece and her husband, Jerry and Mary Monson of Owatonna, Minn., and other family and friends, including Lousia Piersma of Inwood, Stuart and Muriel Leafstedt of Lake Okoboji, and Melva and James Leafstedt of Alcester, S.D.