October 3, 1951 – February 15, 2022

Edward “Bear” Handwerk ,70, died February 15, 2022 at his home in Friendswood, Texas. Edward was born October 3, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Charles and Dorothy Handwerk. He was the oldest of three children. He lived in various states due to transfers of his dad’s company. Edward graduated from Springfield High School. His earliest ambition was to work in safety, so after graduation he went first to Lincoln Land Community College then on to Illinois State at Champagne-Urbana where he received his B.A. in Industrial Safety and Health.  After graduation he worked several different jobs; as Director of ESDA for the City of Springfield, then for the State of Illinois doing OSHA inspections, Department of Energy at the Hanford Site in Washington State., NASA where he was awarded The Silver Snoopy for his work on the Soyuz Capsule, Finally retiring after 11 years as a Professor at the College of the Mainland.

Ed was a member of the Civil Air Patrol where he earned the rank of Lt. Colonel, a member of the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department, and SPAMFFA. He was also City Santa for many years and enjoyed talking to the children. He and his wife also enjoyed assisting with the Special Friends Hayride and the Santa Rides.

He is survived by his wife Georgia, a brother and sister-in-law, Gary and Nancy Handwerk of Washington State, a sister and brother-in-law Janice and Jay Barnard of Illinois and various nieces, nephews, great nieces, nephew and cousins. He was a member of the Friendswood Methodist Church. Memorial Service will be held at a later date.

In Lieu of flowers please make a donation to either the church Food Pantry or the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department.