Edward John Feist passed away at the Cook Care Center on May 6th, 2021. He was born on October 30th, 1936, at home on Hanson's farm in McLean County, Illinois where his family worked the land. He was the 7th of 9 children in a household of 14 including extended family.

When Ed was born, his family was transitioning from horse farming to using tractors. A parish priest loaned the family $500 to buy one of their first tractors. Ed was encouraged in his mechanical abilities by his father Anthony, who allowed him to skip farm chores to work in the shop.

By the time he was a teenager, he was helping convert the tractors to propane fuel. Ed graduated from Holy Trinity High School in 1954 and continued to specialize in propane carburetion for the rest of his career.

He married Elizabeth Ann Hess, the love of his life, on April 22nd, 1961 in Watseka, Illinois. Together they had 5 children. Edward was devoted to his wife and enjoyed leaving her notes and poems to greet her in the morning. He has been looking forward to spending eternity with her since she passed away almost 5 years ago.

After spending his first 41 years in McLean County running his own business (Carburetion Workshop) and crop farming, he sold out in 1978 and bought Red Loon Lodge on Lake Vermilion near Cook, Minnesota. He loved grilling meat for all the guests at the Monday night picnic. He opened Feist Repair around 1980 and even continued repairing propane generators into his 80s. His children all attended his version of vocational school, "The School of Hard Knocks", which featured learning by hands-on experience.

Daddy shared with us a few years ago that he always did what he wanted to do in life, which was to be his own boss. He said he wished all of his kids would be able to look back on ourselves and say we were as happy living our lives as he was with his.

Preceded in death by: his parents Genevieve and Anthony Feist; his wife Elizabeth; his siblings Hilda Feist, Marie Witte, Mary Belmar, Anthony "Bud" Feist and Bernard Feist.

He is survived by: his siblings Genevieve "Tootie" Feist, Sister JoAnn Feist O.P., Marilyn Taylor and Bill (Barbara) Feist; his children Ann (John Langan) Feist, Mike (Jody) Feist, Jennifer (Alan Presley) Feist, Bill (Lisa) Feist and Eddie Feist, his grandchildren Katelynn (Adam) Swan, Melina (William) Feist, Ryan (Krystal), Jonathan and Sarah Pirila, great grandchildren Luke Pirila, and Winter and Xander Swan, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral Mass will be held at St. Mary's in Cook, Minnesota at 11 am on Monday, May 17th with visitation one hour before. Ed invites you to join us for a celebratory meal following the service as he enjoyed preparing and sharing good food. We request that you bring a verbal or written remembrance to share. To leave an online condolence visit www.mlakerfuneralhome.com