Ed Cramer

Edward Lee Cramer was born on a farm near Leeton, Missouri on November 19,1931 to Ora Samuel and Minnie Mabel Cox Cramer.  Ed’s mother passed away the following month with complications from child birth.  His five older sisters and two older brothers helped care for him.  The sisters gave him the nickname “Sonny” and it stayed with him all his life.  Ed was born during the hard times of the Great Depression. At the early age of eleven. he was responsible for the planting on the family farm.  The Cramer family, besides farming, helped with the running of a sawmill, made and sold sorghum, and always raised a big vegetable garden.  

In 1947, in his sophomore year of high school, Ed came to Garden City, Missouri to live with his sister’s family, Howard, Louise and Darrel Hayden. Not only did they provide him a home, but he would say they provided him with the strong moral ideals that guided his life.  During this time, Ed met and began dating June Sisk. They were married on June 2, 1951. Ed had gone to work for a tree trimming company upon his graduation from Garden City high school in 1949.  Due to the terrible flood of Kansas City in the summer of 1951, he changed jobs to work for the Missouri State Highway Department.  Ed served in the United States Army in the Korean Conflict from July of 1952 to August of 1954.  He worked as a radio operator in the battles of Heartbreak Ridge and Christmas Hill.  After his military service, Ed returned to work for the Missouri Highway Department until his retirement in 1991. Ed and June had three children:  Charmen Deanne, born March 27, 1955, a baby girl (stillborn) born July 2, 1958 and Scott Sisk Cramer born November 21, 1962. 

Ed liked the rural community of Garden City.  He was a member of the First Christian Church where he served as a deacon and elder.  He was active in the local Lion’s club, American Legion, Garden City Park Board, and served two terms on the Cass R-VIII School Board. In January of 1963, Ed was presented a Certificate of Recognition from the Missouri Safety Council for his part in saving a little girl from a burning trailer home in Harrisonville, Missouri.

Ed loved playing and watching sports, but especially baseball and basketball. He coached the Garden City boys baseball team for several years. He played basketball with the town league after high school and played softball with the local church league as a pitcher into his fifties. Besides playing sports, Ed loved playing cards; Cribbage, Pitch, Pinochle, and Canasta were among his favorites.   Ed also loved the outdoors plus all hunting; deer, turkey and quail were his favorites.  He also excelled at hunting and eating morel mushrooms.

Ed was talented at building, remodeling, refinishing furniture, concrete finishing, brick and masonry work.  He remodeled and built a large addition to their home at 508 Gum Street, renovated the old Hotel Rector for businesses and apartments in Garden City, renovated the old Sweezy house for his daughter’s family, helped with the remodeling of Scott’s home in Troy, Illinois, and helped renovate/build the basement addition to the Christian Church. 

Ed and June were very active parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  They loved hosting all family gathering, babysitting the children and attending most of their sporting or school activities.

Besides his parents, Ed was preceded in death by his wife, June; his infant daughter; his five sisters, two brothers, step-sister and step-brother.

Funeral Service will be held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 23, 2023 at First Christian Church, Garden City, Missouri with internment at Garden City Cemetery, Garden City, Missouri.

Visitation will be held 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 23, 2023 at First Christian Church, Garden City, Missouri.

Memorial contributions may be made to First Christian Church Memorial Fund and send in care of Dickey Funeral Home, PO Box 432, Harrisonville, Missouri 64701.