SOUTH PORTLAND - Ed first met his wife Madeleine (Beaudin) in Groton, CT, in August of 1970. A group of Gold crew submariners from the USS Henry L. Stimson had just returned from patrol. To celebrate their safe return, they were giving a party to which Madeleine and three of her roommates from Boston were invited. The following morning, a group of half a dozen or so young boys with baseballs and bats banged on Ed's trailer door. His roommate Mike Kirste answered and they all shouted in unison, "Hey, can Ed come out and play?" Madeleine knew right then and there that Ed was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Thankfully, Ed felt the same way about her because two weeks later, he proposed. Ed returned from another patrol just before Christmas, and they were married on January 23, 1971.

Ed had to be in Charleston by the 5 of February. So, their "honeymoon" consisted of driving from Maine (where they were married in Madeleine's parents' home), a quick stop at Ed's mother's house on Long Island, one overnight in DC, and on to Charleston, South Carolina.

Yes, Ed was a native New Yorker, born in Queens on July 11, 1938. It took Madeleine a while to adapt to his fast-talking Big Apple accent. Being of half German and half Irish descent, Ed, the oldest of six boys, loved to tell stories and reminisce about his parents' (Howard and Catherine (McCormick) Sassman) cold-water flat, which he shared with them. Brothers Arthur and Howard came next, then Roy and Robert. Growing up in Queens and Brooklyn, he took the "El" to Manhattan to attend the Printing Trades school before enlisting in the Navy. Ed was 21 and stationed in Japan when he got a telegram from his mother letting him know he had a new brother, Michael, the youngest!

Life was a whirlwind of moves until Ed retired from the US Navy in April of 1977 after 21 years of service: From Charleston, they spent a year in Guam, then moved to Virginia Beach, VA, and then on to Long Island where their daughter Virginia Anne was born. The three of them arrived in Honolulu, HI on the 4th of July, 1974, where they would remain until Ed retired and where Virginia's brother, George, was born in 1975.

On September 20, 1971, on his way to Guam aboard the USS Hunley, Ed crossed the equator at Latitude 00° 00' Longitude 180° 00' and, as a "trusty Shellback" was accepted into the "Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep." Ed served in the submarine "Silent Service" as an electronics technician. This came in handy when he became a computer technology teacher and technical writer in civilian life.

He was a Life Member of the Fleet Reserve Association with 40 years of continuous membership, and "was recognized and honored by the United States Navy Memorial Foundation as a Navy Memorial "PLANK OWNER"—a member of the original crew of supporters who made the 200 year dream of a permanent national tribute to Navy personnel a reality." He was also a Plank Owner, on the first crew to sail out on the USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN 640) on 17 August 1964.

Upon return from Hawaii, the family moved to Nashua, NH, then bought a house in Manchester, NH in 1984. Ed's love of coaching baseball never waivered as he followed their son George's progress in baseball, football, and especially basketball. He was proud of Virginia's academic career and loved that she returned to his native New York City for graduate school.
Ed's pride and ultimate joy of his life were his grandsons, Benjamin Hughes, son of George Sassman and Denise Hughes; Carter and Cameron Sassman, sons of George Sassman and Leslie Arruda-Sassman; and Owen Rose, son of Virginia (Sassman) Rose and Aaron Rose.

Ed put up a heroic fight against multiple cancers and heart complications the last decade of his life, always looking forward to warm weather, visiting the ocean, grilling, and tending his garden with his exceptional green thumb. He religiously read at least two newspapers every day and always finished the crosswords. He looked forward to holidays and family gatherings and long conversations and visits with his best friend Joe Drotter of Bedford, NH. Toward the last days of his life, his wife often observed him having "conversations" with old Navy buddies who had passed on years before, one Charlie Emerson in particular. She figured they were preparing a welcome party for him at the end of his last patrol, welcoming their shipmate safely over the threshold on November 16, 2022.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation be made to Habitat for Humanity, by phone at 800-422-4828 or by mail at: Habitat for Humanity International, 322 West Lamar St., Americus, Georgia, 31709-3543.