Edwin Kinney

EDWIN JOHN KINNEY

Iowa City

1951 – 2015

"A Good Man with a Hammer"

Edwin John Kinney was born in Iowa City, Iowa, to Edwin Kinney and Ellen Kinney. The fifth of nine children, he attended Catholic school at St. Patrick's, followed by Regina and then City High, class of 1969. He left home at the ripe age of 16 to travel cross country, before being lawfully shuttled back to Iowa City where he lived for the duration of his life. Ed held numerous jobs in his lifetime: paperboy, farmhand, sibling con man, and, later, feed mill operator, Texan water tower painter, Nagle lumberyard worker and boiler room fire feeder. He became a skilled carpenter, learning the trade from fellow local contractors before starting his own construction business. Edwin and Constance were married in 1976. He spent over a decade coaching kids' sports teams, and 19 years dropping his children off at Shimek Elementary.

Of the events of a man we cannot truly venture to speak with any accuracy or from the mere chance of information, nor any notions, but according to our own. For a man is not just a man, he is beyond the sum total of his events and continues to live through the imagination and complex relations to his loved ones, to his land and to his work.

Ed loved his family, friends and Iowa. With a deep reverence for the past, he had an abiding respect for our ancestors, many who have been laid near the lands they tilled. He knew intuitively, as well as by fact, that this land was to be trusted, that it created democracy along with life. He dug deeply into this taproot of his experience to harvest the language of endurance, understanding and love.

Ed had no secret tools, but relied upon real courage, honest friendship and loyalty. He did not feel the incompatibility between words and deeds; he found braveness in the gesture of the common-place. Ed had an abundance of imagination. He shared it freely. He built things with it like he created love: to be true to the measure of life and to the impermanence of time.

Ed gave spontaneously, not from the calculations of profit or loss, but with an intangible grace and exceptional versatility. His love remains in the uncalculated hearts he joined in this world.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Constance "Connie" Kinney; and his beautiful parents, Ellen and Edwin Kinney. He and Connie are survived by four children, Jessica, Stephen, Sarah and James; three grandchildren; five sisters; three brothers; numerous nieces and nephews; and countless lifelong friends.

The visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, at Lensing Funeral Home, 605 Kirkwood Ave., Iowa City. The funeral service will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at Lensing Funeral Home.

While Ed was a generous man, he was a seasonal Grinch. He loved trees and hated the commercialization of Christmas – one of his favorite (sarcastic) quotes was "In the spirt of Christmas, kill a tree." Given his love of trees, we are requesting in lieu of flowers you donate to "Trees for the Future" (treesforthefuture.org). Or, please bring a potted tree to the funeral home that can later be planted.

Like his mother, Ed had a passion for Western novels for the expansive notions of freedom, work and love. One of their favorites finished, "A good man with a hammer." And so it was with Edwin John Kinney.

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.lensingfuneral.com.