ed story passes away

[Normand]

ed story founder of feather craft

http://www.riverrunoutfitters.com/20...fishing-world/

[Bamboozle]

That's too bad. The times I spoke with him on the phone he was a lot of fun to talk to and always talked to me about my home waters.

[nighthawk]

That sucks! My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

[JohnScott]

Feather Craft, in my experience, was an exceptional mail and phone order business. The times I did business with them, the people there were friendly, everything went just right, and a couple times on small orders they just charged a minimum S & H fee, like actual postage.

For all the good things to be said about Feather Craft's products and services, which is a tribute to Ed and hopefully will prove a monument beyond his passing, for me the best part of the website was Ed's story telling, his way of pitching a product, and his anecdotes about unusual flies and fishing techniques in his "Ed's Web Specials."

I can only hope that whoever succeeds him as the heart and soul of that operation can maintain it with the class and in the style that Ed Story embued it.

[mnklagoon]

i agree with john on this one. he was the J. peterman of flyfishing!

[Chuck441]

For those who remember when Ed banged out his mailings on a typewriter, the glossy, full color catalogs were, well, "boring". I understand the need to compete, and would probably have done the same myself, but I used to get a kick out of his blatant misspellings, and non-PC jokes. He will be missed.

Chuck

[Joe Billingsley]

Does anyone know if his passing was sudden, or had he been ill for some time? He was a true pleasure to work with when placing an order.

Joe

[mickmcco]

Ed and the folks at Feather-Craft gave me my start in fly fishing and fly tying many years ago, so I never missed a chance to stop in and visit whenever I was back in St. Louis, or to chat when I called in an order.

My favorite Ed story occurred in my second year of fly fishing. I'd ordered a custom 7wt rod from another vendor and took it over to Feather-Craft's casting yard to test it out. Ed graciously agreed to accompany me outside and give it a try himself. I flailed with it a bit, then handed the rod to Ed. He calmly and smoothly worked out line until he was casting it all, timing his casts to miss the traffic moving along Manchester Road. Ever the kind-hearted diplomat, Ed handed the rod back to me and said: "Well, you won't be limited by your rod."

My condolences to Ed's wife Janell, his son Bob, daughter Robyn, and all the staff at Feather-Craft. We've lost a real gentleman with his passing.

[To respond to the questions above, Ed, who was in his mid 70s, had battled back from a bout with cancer, then had a quadruple bypass in early March. He'd been back in the shop occasionally since his surgery, but then took a turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago. Still, it was a shock to those in the shop and all who knew him, since Ed seemed cheerful and vital to the end.]

[Animal Chris]

I'm sorry to hear that. I'll remember him and the family in my prayers. I never got to meet Ed face to face, but I visited with him over the phone enough, when enquiring on his "specials", that I felt like I knew him. I called one time to check on a fly line he had on phone only sale, but it had already been sold. About 10 minutes later, when I got off the phone, not only did I had he taken care of my fly line, but as he was going through things, he found some other items that I just couldn't live with out. He was fun to do "business" with. The sport is a lesser place with out him.

Tight loops and a gentle breeze, Ed.

Chris

[mickmcco]

One of Ed's former staff members said she heard that he was casting a Crackleback to a big trout on the River of Life.