Ed and Marianna

Ed and Marianna Muse were high school sweethearts who married each other just before Ed left for war. Ed joined the U.S. Air Force during World War II and learned to fly B-17 bombers. “It was simple,” says Ed. “Everybody who was alive and could walk was invited to come fight.” And when it was time for him to report for duty, “I thought ‘we better get married. I wanted to have a wife when I got home – or else she might find someone else,” says Ed.

Marianna agreed to marry him although they’d be apart at times. Her mother approved of the marriage often telling Marianna “he is so right for you.” “He was so cute,” says Marianna with a grin. “Her mother was quite intelligent,” Ed quipped.

For three-and-a-half years Ed and Marianna lived in Hawaii where Ed was stationed. They had a baby girl by then who loved the water. After 10 years in the service Ed retired from the military and the family settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma where they raised their two girls and two boys. Ed supported his family by working first as a Westinghouse Electric salesman. He later worked in the insurance business.

Marianna stayed home to raise their kids but found time to volunteer in her kids’ school, at a hospital and for a drug abuse hotline for troubled teenagers. Marianna had studied psychology in college and had always been interested in the mental health field. At home around the dinner table she’d talk about the kids she counseled. It provided a channel for talking about issues with her own teenagers – topics that are sometimes hard for parents to bring up with their children, says Marianna.

Every summer the family traveled to Colorado to visit Ed’s mother in Woodland Park for a couple of weeks. His mother had bought an old homestead log cabin and lived there full-time by herself. After Ed and Marianna’s kids graduated from college, each one moved away to a mountainous state. Their two sons live in nearby Carbondale, Colorado, and their daughters live near the West Coast.

“What’s wrong with Oklahoma?” Ed used to ask his kids. They’d say, “Well, you took us to the mountains so many times we fell in love with them.” “So we followed them in a way,” says Ed. “We fell in love with the mountains just like they did.” By then Ed and Marianna were living outside Hot Springs, Arkansas. They liked it there but wanted to be closer to their kids, so they moved. With Grand Junction being a “shopping mecca” for people living in Carbondale, and a daughter-in-law who has parents living in nearby Palisade, Ed says there are all kinds of reasons for their sons to frequently visit. “They’ve been a big help to us,” says Ed.

By: Sharon Sullivan