Ed Rawley: A Steel Grip on Family History

Hooked on serving others and hooked on family history—this is an apt description of Ed Rawley of Bountiful, Utah. Instead of two helping hands, he reaches out to others with two helping hooks.

A volunteer librarian at the Church Family History Library in Salt Lake City, he teaches classes on how to use computers for family history. His knowledge of obscure historical facts also helps many in their research.

As a navigator in World War II, Ed was aboard a B-24 that crashed while on a low-altitude check flight. He had no chance to bail out and was pinned under a 2,000-pound gun turret in a roaring inferno that was fed by gasoline from the ruptured wing tanks.

“I tried to inhale deep breaths of smoke, hoping it would render me unconscious and free me from the agonizing pain,” he recalls. But as the plane burned, “The gun turret shifted and I was able to free my burned legs. By now, my hands were too badly burned to be of assistance, but by wiggling on my back, I was able to work my way into the cockpit and out through a jagged hole in the fuselage wall.”

Despite extensive surgery, Brother Rawley lost both hands. “At the time, I believed I’d rather be dead than be like that,” he remembers.

Ed’s wife, Virginia Kay, a cadet nurse, met him during his recovery. Ed remembers her as an angel of mercy who helped him regain his independence. “When Ed makes up his mind to do something, he does it,” says Virginia. “Almost nothing intimidates him.”

Upon recovery, Ed became so expert with his hooks that his official assignment was to assist other amputees with their prostheses. On 26 June 1946, he and Virginia were married.

After obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in wildlife biology, Ed spent thirty-four years with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “My hooks were a definite advantage as I worked with steel cages and traps and sharp-toothed, biting animals like marten,” he recalls. “Wildlife people have been known to lose a finger or two, but not a hook.” Then he adds, “Hooks are handy for washing dishes in extra hot water or for retrieving pans out of the fire.”

Besides his vivid sense of humor, Ed has a natural sense of community as he goes out of his way for others, such as working with Boy Scouts of all ages. Though not a member of the Church, he was a very active nonmember. When his youngest son, Scott, was eight years old, he asked, “Dad, why don’t you join the Church?”

Ed replied, “Son, if you’ll stick close to the Church and fill a mission, I’ll let you baptize me when you come home.” When Scott returned in June 1982 from serving in Japan, he did just that. Ed was baptized on the thirty-sixth anniversary of his wedding, and the family was sealed one year later.

Since his retirement from wildlife management six years ago, Ed has served happily at the Family History Library. He’s a man with many talents and broad knowledge. Being a stamp collector, for instance, he knew of a philatelists’ book about ghost towns that helped a man who was researching family history in Nevada.

Ed is more adept with his hooks than many are with their hands. He’s built a kayak, which he and his three sons used. He does wood carving, art, photography, golf, and team pistol shooting, besides his stamp collecting.

“My eternal companion has been the positive answer to my questions since the day I dragged myself from that raging inferno forty-three years ago,” he says fondly. “Her inspiration gave me an attitude of self-sufficiency so that I could accomplish what I thought was impossible. My whole life has been guided by the Lord, so who knows what I can yet accomplish with his help—and with these hooks?”

Photo by Jed Clark