In Memory

Ernest Eidsmore

Ernest Eidsmore

Ernest (Ernie) Eidsmore was born on April 5, 1940 and passed away on April 27, 1995 at the age of 55.

From 1995 until 2021 we had no further information about Ernie, but we always believed that several members of our class knew Ernie well and might share news about his life.  If you have something to share about Ernie, please use the "Post Comment" button below and provide that information.  We will use it to continue to revise and update what we do know, in order to provide an evolving obituary statement about Ernie.

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Then in January of 2021 we were contacted by Ernie's son, Craig Leaf, who found our website and made contact, and felt an obligation to offer information which he knew we might wish to know.  After following up with him, we now have such new information which we can share about the life and times of Ernest Eidsmore -- as stated by his son, whose memory has also admittedly diminished over time.  Here is what Craig said:

"Ernie Eidsmore graduated from the University of Minnesota and he subsequently took and passed the entrance exam to become a lawyer."  (See the comment below, posted by classmate Ken Cherry.)  We generally do not post comments from a classmate's children, when we have more suitable knowledge.  But in this case, after so many years, and with information that so many of us had heard and suspected about Ernie, we are making this exception:

According to his son, "Ernie became very addicted to alcohol and it ruined his life.  There wasn't a day he went without a drink.  Yes, he was in the Air Force, but wrote a letter to his supervisors in order to get a medical discharge, because of my mother Marilynn Moller and her illness.  He worked at Control Data at the St. Louis Park location, which was next to the Old Carriage House Bowling Alley.  I remember him taking me inside and playing with the old punch cards that were the precursors of today's computers.  All in all, Ernie was a very intelligent man, but something made him unhappy and destined to a life of drinking.  He did not want to change."

We are indebted to Craig Leaf and his willingness to share such personal information about his father.  As website administrators we don't enjoy publishing information about the alcohol addiction or chemical dependency of any of our classmates.  That's usually been considered rather private business.  But Ernie was our classmate and friend; we loved him as a brother and all wish we had done something for him long ago.  He has been gone now for over 25 years and has no next of kin who could be embarassed by the release of such data.  In this case, it came from his son; but we surmise that some of it was told to him by his mother (who was divorced from his father) as he grew up.  As Ernie's girl friend for many years, our classmate Sue Strom Crandall says in her personal statement below, alcoholism is not a choice.  We know much more now about addiction and its treatment than any of us knew decades ago.  If we knew then what we know now, many of us would have intervened with our friend Ernie and tried to set him on the path to a new beginning, which Ken Cherry alludes to in his statement, also below.  We can only apologize if anyone is offended by reading what others have said about Ernest Eidsmore.  The world is far less than it could have been, because of the early loss of such an intelligent human being.

  



 
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09/08/15 04:37 PM #1    

Kenneth Cherry

ERNIE WAS A GOOD FRIEND! HE HAD A DEGREE FROM THE U OF M AND SERVED 4 YEARS IN THE AIR FORCE. AT ONE TIME HIS GOAL WAS TO BE A LAWYER. I WISH HE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY HIS LIFE AND HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS SON!  HE WAS ALONE IN HIS LATER YEARS, I GUESS BY HIS CHOICE. ERNIE HAD A LOT TO OFFER IN THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN. I MISS HIM AS A FRIEND!  I KNOW HE COULD HAVE DONE SO  MUCH MORE. I BELIEVE SOME HOW HE HAD A LOT TO GIVE; HE JUST WOULD NOT OPEN THE DOOR FOR A FRESH BEGINNING. THAT MAKES ME SAD. OUR LIFE IS SUCH A GIFT AND SO WAS HIS!  WRITTEN BY KEN CHERRY, ERNIE'S FRIEND 

 

 


01/20/21 02:31 PM #2    

Susan Strom (Crandall)

 

I would like to add my memories of Ernie.  He was my high school boyfriend in our junior/senior years and part of college.  Ernie crossed St Louis Park every school day to pick me up (I lived in a long "walking" area).  He worked at Red Owl during high school.  He was a wonderful person.

In the late 1980's we reconnected.  It is true that by that time alcoholism was too much of an issue for me to continue the relationship.  This is not a choice people make!  His father was an alcoholic as well.  At that time he was working at IBM in a successful career. Ernie was a kind and thoughtful person.  He had friends that cared for him.

Susan Strom Crandall 

 

 

 

 

 

 


01/20/21 05:36 PM #3    

Kurt Schleicher

Ernie, I remember his smile, his friendly attitude, his neat Mercury car like James Dean had, his intelligence, where he lived on Minnetonka Blvd.  He had so much going for him and also working with our company Fred G. Andersons moving into the computer age with payroll.  I lost contact after high school and really appreciated the update from his son!  I was not surprised to learn of his college degree, 4 years in the Airforce and knew he had a drinking problem.  He was always a good friend to me.  A horrible way to have lived; we lost our son Tom Ewer to Alcoholsim and his horrible journey.  Kurt Schleicher


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