Edward William Diehl ’49

Rev. Edward William Diehl died at home in Waymart, Pa., on Mar. 15, 1998, of diabetes and heart problems. He was 76.

He served as a B-17 pilot in Europe during WWII, flying 52 combat missions and receiving a Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters. He transferred to Princeton from Dickinson College in 1945, majored in history, and was foreman of the monumental move of the university library from Pyne to Firestone in 1947.

His war experiences moved him to become a minister and he received his master's of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1951. Ed married Helen Lohenic in 1945. They had two sons born while Ed was a missionary to the Athabascan Indians near the Alaskan Highway. They later had a daughter. He served for 30 years as the first institutional resident chaplain to the criminally insane at Pennsylvania's Fairview State Hospital. He found helping inmates regain control to be very rewarding.

Ed is survived by his wife, Helen, sons Daniel and Michael, daughter Melanie, three brothers, and nine grandchildren. The class extends its deepest sympathies to all of them at the loss of this outstanding humanitarian.

The Class of 1949