BOND, Dr. Edward Gerow (Age 100 years and 5 months)

Passed away in Spokane with family at his side on June 2, 2009. Ed was born in
Hanford, California, in December 1908 to Charles Lester Bond and Gladys Gerow
Bond. His childhood was spent in several places due to the extensive travel of his
father, a Seventh-day Adventist minister. His early education was equally varied,
beginning with home-schooling by his mother and ending with his high-school
graduation from Glendale Union Academy in 1926. After one year at Pacific Union
College and two at Columbia Union College - still somewhat befuddled about what
course to pursue - Ed spent a year working for a cement contractor in the Washington,
D.C., area. Having decisively ruled out a career in cement, he returned to CUC,
completed his degree, and attended medical school at the College of Medical
Evangelists (now Loma Linda University). Beginning in 1936, he had a long and
successful career in family medicine, which included practices in Priest River, ID;
Newport, WA; and Spokane, WA. During WWII, he served as an ''Essential Physician''
in northern Idaho and was awarded a signed certificate of Meritorious service from
President Truman. Family life was even more important to Ed than his distinguished
career. He married Bernice Casey in the summer of 1933. Six years later, their only
child, Robert, was born in Newport. Ed had many interests and hobbies. He loved
beauty, especially musical and natural beauty. He played both saxophone and piano -
the latter, with remarkable agility, late in life and with extremely arthritic hands. A lover of
animals, birds, flowers, mountains, and lakes, he was an avid hiker, water skier, and
fisherman. For decades he owned a cabin on Priest Lake, where he accumulated
innumerable happy memories with his wife, son, daughter-in-law, three granddaughters,
and many friends. Ed was an accomplished tennis player and golfer, with four
holes-in-one to his credit and the honor of having shot his age of 85 in 1993. He was
an enthusiastic Seventh-day Adventist and a charter member of the South Hill
Adventist Church in Spokane. Dr. Bond was preceded in death by his parents and
several beloved canine companions. He is survived by Bernice, his wife of nearly 76
years; son, Bob; daughter-in-law, Georgene (Thompson); granddaughters and their
husbands, Karlyn (Ron Solbrig), Kori (Scott Anderson), Kellie (Paul Johnson); and
great-grandson, Leif Kieran Bond Anderson. A memorial service will occur at the South
Hill Adventist Church on Saturday, June 20, at 2:30 p.m. Please do not send flowers. In
lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Spokane Junior Academy, 1888 North
Wright Dr., Spokane, WA 99224.

Published on 6/7/2009
Spokesman-Review