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MEMORIAL OAKS FUNERAL HOME | MEMORIAL OAKS CEMETERY obituary
13001 KATY FWY, HOUSTON, TX 77079 | 281-497-2210

Col. Edward Lewis Bale Jr.
March 19, 1920 - December 21, 2017

Visitation
Monday, January 08, 2018 | 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Memorial Oaks Funeral Home
13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77079 | (281) 497-2210
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Memorial Service
Tuesday, January 09, 2018 | 9:30 am
Parkway Place Chapel
1321 Park Bayou Drive, Houston, Texas 77077 | (281) 556-9200
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Reception immediately following the Memorial
Monday, January 09, 2017 | 10:30 - 12:00
Parkway Place Cabana Room
1321 Park Bayou Drive, Houston, Texas 77077
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Graveside Service
Tuesday, January 09, 2018 | 1:00 pm
Houston National Cemetery
10410 Veterans Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77038 | (281) 447-8686
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Colonel Edward Lewis Bale, Jr.

1920-2017
Edward Lewis Bale, Jr. longtime resident of Las Mochas, New Mexico, passed away Thursday, December 21, 2017 in Winnsboro, Texas. He was proceeded in death by his beloved wife, Sybil and his oldest son, Edward Lewis Bale, III. Ed was born in Dallas, Texas on March 19, 1920 to Edward Lewis Bale and wife, Margaret Loughlin. After receiving a fine Catholic education, he graduated from high school and enrolled in Texas A&M. He left college to join the United States Marine Corps, going on to serve a distinguished career spanning 30 years. Ed served with honor in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. On November 1, 1952, he married the love of his life, Sybil Gilliland. Together they spent 63 years as loving partners, raising a family, and extending their love to friends around the world.

As an active, devout member of the Episcopal church, he served wherever needed for the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande. A very active member of the St. James Episcopal Church in Taos, New Mexico, he still found time to pursue his love of travel, stay active in the local community of his beloved New Mexico and continue his lifelong interest in history. Together with Sybil, he enjoyed traveling the world and showing their granddaughters, M'Lisa, Elizabeth and Andrea, the beauty of the Southwest United States during summer vacations and tending to a thriving and ever growing community of hummingbirds. In 2009, Ed and Sybil moved to Houston to be near family where new friends were made and new adventures undertaken. In his final years, he participated in film documentaries covering the Pacific during World War II, as well as interviews for the book, Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa by Oscar E. Gilbert. While he will be missed by many, he is now together forever with his cherished wife, Sybil.

Ed is survived by his son, Charles Bale; daughter, Katherine Burghard; daughter, Margaret Bale Clymer; granddaughter, Elizabeth Domino and husband, Marcus; granddaughter, Andrea Barr and husband, Chris; great grandchildren, Charlotte Eikenhorst, Maxwell Domino and Tristan Barr and several nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends around the globe. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the M'Lisa Bale Scholarship Fund c/o Emily A. Franke, 4101 Indian School Road NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110.