Edward (Ed) Joseph Gerstner Jr., age 81, passed away peacefully on January 26th, 2021 surrounded by family at his home in Madison, Alabama.
Ed was born on September 25th, 1939 in Annapolis, Maryland and enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1959 at the age of 19. During his 26 years of service in the Air Force he served in numerous locations around the world, including Iceland, Egypt, Italy, Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines, as an airman and military policeman. It was during his time in Iceland at the end of his active duty military career that he met his wife, Oddny Gerstner, and upon retiring from the Air Force in 1984, continued to serve his country as a civil servant for the United States Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In 1999 he was transferred to the US Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where he completed his civil service career after 21 years and retired to Madison, Alabama in 2005.
Ed will be greatly missed by his surviving children, Odinn Freeman, Lisa Freeman and Oddny Gerstner, who will forever remember him for his no-nonsense attitude, his love of westerns, military films and blues music, but most of all for his wise guidance and advice. They know and take comfort in, however, that he is finally at home with the Lord and reunited with his wife and children that have passed before him.
Ed is also survived by 12 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his spouse of 37 years, Oddny Gerstner, his son, Edward Coleman Gerstner, and two daughters, Katrina Jongepier and Mary Twiggs.
The family will receive friends during visitation on Monday, February 1st, 2021 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at Berryhill Funeral Home. There will be a graveside service on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. at Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo where Ed will be interred with full military honors.
