Edward McNeil

Edward Bowen McNeil, 93, passed away Feb. 8, 2015, in Kalispell.

He was born in Chicago on May 11, 1921 to Grace (Bowen) and Claude McNeil. The family lived in Whiting, Ind.

Edward attended the Whiting Public Schools from elementary through high school. From childhood, music was important in his life. He studied cello from an early age, was first desk in the national award-winning Whiting High School Orchestra and was also in the All-Chicago chorus.

He graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1943 majoring in physics and was immediately hired by Miami University to teach physics to the Navy Officer Training Program.

When he was drafted in 1944, he enlisted in the Navy, which put him in the EDDY program for radar and electronic repair. After he graduated from the EDDY program, the Navy retained him as an instructor and he was stationed at Navy Pier in Chicago, which was one of three national radar/sonar schools.

Discharged after World War II ended, Edward obtained an assistantship at the University of Illinois in Urbana, teaching physics. During that time, he met his future wife, Cecily Rideout, of Marin County, California, who was a graduate student in library science at Illinois. They were married in July 1948 in Ross, California. Two sons were born to the couple, Alan and Bruce.

Edward taught at the University of Illinois in Chicago for nearly 40 years. For three summers in the 1960s, he taught physics teachers in India. He traveled extensively in India — Assam, Calcutta, Madras, Kerala, Bombay, Mysore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Tanjore.

Edward maintained a keen interest in architecture. Trained by his father to be a skilled carpenter, he was eventually able to realize his dream by building a cabin for his family in the North Fork of the Flathead. This effort took several summers, and was accomplished without power tools.

In 1990, Edward and Cecily retired to Kalispell, where Edward immediately volunteered for the Glacier Orchestra. He was on the board of the orchestra for several years and in 1997 was a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year.

Edward’s grandchildren include Henry McNeil, Fiona McNeil, U.S. Cost Guard Lt. Anna McNeil, Ellie McNeil, and Edward McNeil II.

Gift’s in his memory may be given to the Glacier Symphony.