Edward Kenneth “Ed” Muraski, born Oct. 18, 1933, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., and a resident of Orange Beach,died Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009.
As an irrefutable Jeffersonian, he imbued his 30-year Union High School social studies teaching career with his religious-oriented education, his USMC-based military service, and his Polish heritage-driven morés.
He graduated in 1951 from Catholic Central High School, Grand Rapids, Mich., received a B.A. from St. Thomas Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1958; earned an M.A. in education from Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich., in 1960; and studied at American University, Washington D.C., 1963, North Texas University, Denton, Texas, 1967-1968, and Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland, 1983-1984.
He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1951; completed basic training with the Second Recruit Battalion, Platoon 524, Parris Island, S.C.; was promoted to staff sergeant; was attached to naval intelligence, Washington D.C.; received the National Service Defense Ribbon; was transferred with obligated service to USMCR 9th MCRRD, 1954; and was honorably discharged, 1959.
His Polish-formative influence was his paternal grandfather, Anthony Murawski, a Polish immigrant who rejected pre-World War I Czarist conscription. Motivated to share history as a cause, an ideal, a political instrument, Ed presented history as a matrix of social, economic, cultural, institutional, military, personal, and political forces.
He extended this “across-disciplinary” framework to his American government, economics, and law curricula. His student-awarded honors included “The Greatest Teacher Ever,” 1968, and “Teacher Comedian,” 1978.
He was preceded in death by his father, Edward R. Muraski and mother, Genevieve L. Mitchell.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Virginia S. Muraski; son, Edward K. Muraski Jr.; daughter, Michel L. Hendry; grandsons, Tyler J. and Austin A. Hendry; and sister, Donna J. Gronski.
Mass of the Resurrection was held Sept. 24 at St. Thomas-by-the-Sea Catholic Church, Orange Beach. Interment was held Sept. 28 at Barrancas National Cemetery, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla.
The family requests memorial donations be made to Odyssey Hospice of Baldwin County, 9805 Millwood Circle Suite D, Daphne, AL 36526.
Arrangements were made by Pine Rest Funeral Home Inc., Foley.
