Obituaries pretend to be objective, but they aren’t. They are written by real people who knew the person who just died, and those experiences shape what gets reported. So, we won’t pretend to be objective. On Wednesday, January 28, 2026 our dad, Verle Edwin “Ed” Fridley, passed away. He had been dealing with several health issues for a couple of months, but it was still a bit of a surprise when he left us.
If you are reading this, you probably knew Dad in a particular context of his life–church, work, childhood, etc. You will undoubtedly find things here that trigger memories of your own interactions with him, but we hope you’ll learn some things about him that you didn’t already know.
First, Dad was a storyteller, and he believed in the aphorism that you “should never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” If you spent time with him, you heard tales punctuated with boisterous laughs and waving arms. If you spent much time with him, you probably heard the same stories repeated–but in new and improved formats. We aim to get the facts right here, but we are his sons, so….
One of Dad’s favorite storytelling venues was at meals. Food played an important role in his life. His favorites–among them ham and beans, turnip greens, Maryland blue crabs and Art’s pizza–connected not only with his taste buds but with his memories. They reminded him of special events, places, and people in his life. Art’s pizza and IBC root beer on Christmas Eve. Crabcakes (with as little filler as possible) to remember good times in Baltimore. Dad believed that–from church carry-ins to family reunions–people bonded and made memories over meals.
Food was also important to Dad’s professional life. For over 50 years he worked to make sure that college students at dozens of campuses had access to meals he could be proud of. While he knew that quality ingredients were key to meeting that goal, he believed that building strong, trusting teams was the most important key to success. Through his efforts to build effective work communities, he developed friendships that lasted decades. We are grateful to those of you with ties to Saga, Marriott, and Sodexo who have reached out to him in recent years.
That focus on building relationships was also apparent in Dad’s religious life. Many of his strongest friendships developed in the churches in which he worshipped. In his later years, he still regularly interacted with some of those friends from as far back as 70 years and as far away as Alabama and Louisiana. His involvement in his last church also led to many new friendships, most notably those with other members of the Fab Five–Fritz, Judy, Wayne, and Shelly.
Church, to Dad, was more than friendships; it was an integral part of his identity. He was a life-long member of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), and being a part of a church community was extremely important to him. His faith provided him with purpose. At no time was this more apparent than during the last several years in which he was involved with the Chesterfield Community Church of God. The opportunity to participate in and contribute to that faith community kept his mind and spirit active and gave him great joy.
In the congregations his father, Verle, Sr., pastored, Dad learned the hymns that brought him solace in his final days. Those songs formed the foundation of a love of music that lasted his entire life. He joined church choirs, led worship services, and even toured part-time with a gospel trio for a few years. Most of those who knew him have a musical memory of him–from a rendition of “How Great Thou Art” at a funeral or leading a group of co-workers in “Sweetly Sings the Donkey”. Music was an important part of Dad’s family life, too. If you had the opportunity to attend a family birthday, you’ve heard a raucously atonal version of “Happy Birthday”, and, if you shared a family meal with us for several years, you joined in singing the Doxology before meals. One of his life goals was to lead the worship service in coordination with his father’s preaching, something he proudly achieved in Milwaukee in the 1980s.
All of these things–stories, food, music, friends, church, work, and family–helped to ground a man who spent the first half of his life on the move–first as the son of a pastor and, later, as a manager in university food service. Born in Lafayette, Indiana on October 23, 1942, Dad lived in Texas, Louisiana, Maryland (twice), Michigan (twice), Illinois, and Alabama before settling back in his native state of Indiana in mid-life. During those early years, he formed strong bonds with his parents, Verle and Grace (nee Muterspaugh), and those developed into a broader commitment to family, in general. He was a loving father to his sons, Scott (Wendy) and Daryl, and he was incredibly proud of his seven grandchildren–Casey (Kim), Austin (Sarah), Aaron (Rachel), Olivia, Rowan, Mason (Alaina), and Madison. He was also proud of the accomplishments of his foster son, Long Dang (Pauline) and appreciated him greatly. He was preceded in death by a beloved cousin, Cheryl Dorff, who was like a sister to him.
In lieu of flowers, we suggest donating to a charity benefitting one of Dad’s interests. In over 50 years of watching Scott play and coach soccer, he learned almost nothing about the game. Nonetheless, he was an ardent supporter of Anderson University Men’s Soccer and his own donations helped to support that program. Alternately, Dad would be pretty pleased to know that his great-great-grandchildren could still enjoy Maryland blue crabs. A donation to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation might make that more likely. He would undoubtedly appreciate a contribution to your local food bank, too.
We know that if you’ve read this far, you must have had an important connection with our dad, so we’d like to invite you to celebrate his life with us at Chesterfield Community Church of God on March 14, 2026. There will be time for fellowship and reflection (aka a “visitation”) at 10 a.m. followed by a service at 11 when we will celebrate Dad’s life with song, scripture, and stories. We hope to see you there.
With love,
Scott and Daryl Fridley