Edward W. Amend

Edward Walter Amend, 89, was born on February 19, 1931, in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. He was the son of the Reverend Edward John Amend and Bertha Ostwald Amend. Edward spent his early years in Belmont, Wisconsin, where his father was a Lutheran pastor. The family moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he attended both secondary school and two years of college. Ed finished college and graduated from Midland University, in Fremont, Nebraska. After college, Edward attended the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, from which he received the Master of Divinity degree in 1955. He married Dalila Agostini 1954. The newlyweds settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they spent eight years. Edward, as a mission pastor, built a new church there, and children Eric, Kurt, and Laura were all born in Tulsa. The pursuit of higher education beckoned, and the family moved to Chicago, Illinois. Edward completed his Ph.D in Theology and Literature at the University of Chicago. He began work as a professor at the University of Northern Iowa in 1967, in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Ed taught at UNI until 1997 and served as department head for the last five years of his teaching career. Edward is preceded in death by his parents and sister, Zeena Novotny (Bob). He is survived by his wife of sixty-five years, Dalila, and his three children: Eric (Dawn Petersen-Amend) of La Canada Flintridge, California, Kurt (Alice Wells) of Arlington, Virginia, and Laura, of Chicago, Illinois. Five grandchildren: Liv, Mari, Helen, Isaac, and Phoebe, are spread across the country. Ed’s great-grandson, Luther, child of Liv and Elliot Steingart, arrived in 2019. He is also survived by his uncle, Phillip Ostwald, and many nieces and nephews. Among Edward’s many passions was fishing Northeast Iowa’s trout streams and canoeing on the Shell Rock River beneath the bluff of the couple’s country home, near Finchford, Iowa. In his later years, he returned often to the cherished Southwest Wisconsin landscape of his childhood. Edward has been cremated, Memorial Service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, July 31, 2021 at Bethlehem Lutheran, 4000 Hudson Road, Cedar Falls. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the following organizations: Bethlehem Lutheran Church, NewAldaya Lifescapes, UNI Foundation, and Cedar Valley Hospice. Richardson Funeral Service is assisting the family.

Edward W. Amend

February 19, 1931 - June 6, 2020