Stanley Edin

Stanley Allen Edin, educator, entrepreneur, photographer, and devoted family man, died in Westminster, Colorado, on March 10, 2024. He was 88. Stan was born in 1936 in Staples, Minnesota to parents Alfred and Lydia (Westberg) Edin. He completed grades 1-8 at Wadena County School #44, a one-room schoolhouse, and graduated from Staples High School in 1954. Stan attended North Park University in Chicago for two years, where he met his future wife Rose Anderson of Dassel, MN. He moved to Minneapolis in 1956 to continue his engineering education at the University of Minnesota. While there, Stan worked several jobs, including managing a team for the Minnesota Statehood Centennial Train, which visited nearly 100 communities and hosted 630,000 visitors in the summer of 1958.

Stan and Rose wed in September of that year and moved to Sierra Vista, Arizona, as Stan had been drafted into the Army as an Electrical Engineer at Fort Huachuca. After his discharge in October 1960, Stan and Rose relocated to Minneapolis where both worked at Bloomington Covenant Church. He received his degree in 1961 and hired on to Minneapolis Honeywell.

Daughter Kathy was born in 1962. The following year, Stan accepted an offer to move back to his hometown to teach at Staples Area Vocational Technical Institute. He had realized that he preferred a more “human and personal” line of work than the more “abstract and physical” job of engineering (as he wrote later). In 1964, Stan was appointed Assistant Director of the College. Son Jon was born the following year. While serving as Assistant Director, Stan and Director Mike Matonich founded the Central Minnesota Irrigation Center and developed a 320-acre Experimental Farm. Many new programs, including diesel mechanics and several training courses on Native American reservations were established.

During this time, Stan earned his Master of Education degree at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. In 1972 he enrolled in the doctoral program in Vocational Education at the University of Minnesota on a selective scholarship through the U.S. Department of Education, finishing coursework in one year. He received his Ph.D. in 1979.  In 1980, Stan led a Group Study Exchange from Rotary International to Sri Lanka and southern India, organizing 47 meetings during the 45-day trip.

Stan served as Director/President of the Staples Technical College from 1981 until 1991 when he led a merger with the Brainerd Technical College (forming the Staples-Brainerd Technical College). In his decade of leadership, the Staples campus moved from a location in the local high school to a multi-campus presence. After the merger, he led the effort to establish an interactive television network connecting the two campuses and area high schools.

Stan served as President of the Minnesota Technical College Presidents from 1990-1991. Later that year, he headed a Minnesota State Department of Education delegation to India and Sri Lanka, lecturing to faculty in Delhi and other sites. In 1993 he spearheaded a larger merger between the Staples and Brainerd Technical and Community Colleges, forming Central Lakes College in 1995. With the successful completion of that merger, Stan retired (he received a gasoline can with his name embossed in gold in honor of his tendency to run out of gas as he traveled across the state on college business).   

While living in Staples, Stan was part of an informal breakfast gathering known, somewhat facetiously, as the “Table of Knowledge.” With several friends from this group, he started a number of small businesses, including a photography studio, tree farm, and clothing manufacturing firm.

After retirement, together with professional artist and wife Rose they formed Art Adventures, taking groups to paint on location around the world, including trips to China, Singapore, India, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Morrocco, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland, France, Greece, Russia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Stan taught photography on these trips and developed a portfolio of thousands of photographs.

Stan and Rose purchased a cabin in Nestor Falls, Ontario, Canada, in 1979. In the early 1980s, Stan and his friends reconstructed a second cabin on the property from the logs of an abandoned cabin on a nearby island. It was here that Stan indulged his love of boating, fishing, and woodworking, worshipping each Sunday at the local United Church. Stan especially relished gatherings with family at the cabin each summer.

In 2005, Stan and Rose relocated part-time to Venice, Florida, and full time in 2017. In 2021, they moved to Covenant Living in Westminster, Colorado. Stan was a leader in many of the churches where they were members, first in Minneapolis, then at Thomastown Covenant Church, in Wadena County, Minnesota, and later at Bay Indies Covenant Church in Venice, Florida. Since coming to Colorado Rose and Stan worshipped at Arvada Covenant.

Stan died at Covenant Living of Colorado after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, surrounded by his loving family. He is survived by brother Richard, wife Rose, children Kathy, Jon, five grandchildren, and a great grandchild.

A viewing will be held at Brenny Funeral Home, 309 4th St NE, Staples, MN from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22. The burial service will take place on March 23 at 1:00 at Thomastown Covenant Church, 15940 251st Ave, Staples, MN 56479. A Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church.