Obituary - Edwin Starkey Nail
KERRVILLE — Edwin "Ed" Starkey Nail of Kerrville, Texas, slipped the
surly bonds of Earth on Monday, Jan. 19, 2015.
A remembrance gathering and military interment will be announced at a later
date.
Ed was born Oct. 16, 1925, in Greenfield, Oklahoma, the fourth of five
children of a cotton gin operator. Orphaned by age 12, Ed lived in the
Masonic Children's Home in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he graduated from high
school in May 1942, at the age of 16. Ed attended Oklahoma A&M, now Oklahoma
State University, where he was accepted into the U.S. Naval Reserve in April
1943. He received his officer's commission at Cornell University in April
1945, and he served active duty in the Pacific Theatre, where he was
assigned to Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands as the officer in charge
of communications.
He was released from active naval duty after his return stateside in 1946.
Ed remained active in the Naval Reserve and was affiliated with the
International Affairs Division of the Navy, and he retired from the Navy in
1968 at the rank of lieutenant.
Ed began employment with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a clerk in
Washington, D.C., in 1947, while he attended law school at George Washington
University in the evenings.
During this time, he met and married another Oklahoma native, Mary Boswell,
who was also working at the FBI. They had one daughter, Kimberly, in 1955.
Ed received his Juris Doctorate in Law with honors in 1951 and began
practicing telecommunications law before the federal court in Washington,
D.C. In 1961, Ed was offered the position of assistant general counsel with
Amerada Oil Corporation in Tulsa. He practiced contract law with Amerada in
Tulsa and later with Cabot and Tenneco in Boston, Washington, D.C., and
Houston. These positions allowed him the opportunity to practice law and
travel internationally, which he dearly enjoyed. Ed retired from Tenneco in
Houston in 1986 and remained active as an independent legal consultant until
2009. Ed was a member of the Texas Bar Association and was admitted to
practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. He was inducted into
the Stockton Guard of the Alumni of George Washington University in 2011.
Ed married Deloris "Dodie" Chambers Thrall in 1987 in Houston, Texas, and
they have lived in the Texas Hill Country since that time. In his
retirement, Ed enjoyed being a docent at the Museum of Western Art in
Kerrville and the Lone Star Museum in Galveston. He and Dodie are members of
the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, the Army and Navy Club in
Washington, D.C., the Marine Memorial Club in San Francisco and the
Riverhill Country Club in Kerrville.
Ed was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary, in 1982; brothers, Lowell
Thomas Nail and Dawson B. Nail; sister, Wanda Nail Walker; and stepson,
Jordan Thrall.
He is survived by his wife, Dodie; daughter and son-in-law, Kimberly Nail
Little and Laurence Little; stepdaughter-in-law, Roseanne Thrall; sister,
Doris Nail Stanfield; grandsons, Richard Moore and wife, Laurie; Army Master
Sgt. Barrett Taylor and wife, Lori; granddaughter, Kristin Brown and
husband, Air Force Capt. Jesse Brown; great-grandchildren Chance, Kaitlyn,
Addison, Asher, Luke and Francesca; a wealth of nieces and nephews and
extended family; and friends near and far.
Ed was always curious about the world around him, and he valued learning. He
was a voracious reader, he was fascinated by geodes as well as spectacular
sunsets, and he loved a good ice cream cone as well as a glass of red wine.
Being a Navy man, he truly loved the sea, but he was always interested in
all things aviation. He loved exploring — be it to foreign locations or just
on a whim to a small town off the beaten path. Ed was a supporter of fine
arts but, as he said many times, "those talents seem to have escaped me." He
was eloquent, charming, funny and occasionally as hard-headed as any Nail
should be. He was a proud Navy veteran who loved his country, but most of
all, his family and close friends.
The family wishes to thank the entire staff of Hilltop Village Nursing and
Rehabilitation Center for the tender care and support given to Ed, as well
as to the staff of Peterson Hospice for the dignified assistance to Ed and
the family.
At Ed's request, arrangements are being handled by Wright's Funeral Parlor
of Kerrville.
Arrangements are under the care of Wright's Funeral Parlor of Kerrville.
Kerrville Daily Times (TX) - Thursday, January 22, 2015