Dr. T. E. Shea, age 95, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died Thursday, January 19, 2006 at his home.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, January 23, 2006 at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, with Reverend Duane Queen officiating. Burial will be in the Storm Lake Cemetery with full military rites by Alta V.F.W. Post 6172.  The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements.

Friends may call on Sunday, January 22, 2006 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake, where the family will be present from 6:00 to 8:00.

Thomas Edwin Shea was born September 24, 1910 in Meridan, Iowa. He attended elementary and high school in Cherokee, Iowa. Following graduation from high school, Ed moved to Chicago, where he worked and took college classes, eventually receiving a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Chicago. From Chicago he moved back to Iowa, and with the burning desire to become a physician, he was admitted to the University of Iowa School of Medicine in Iowa City.

One summer, an old acquaintance by the name of Alice Thutt was taking classes in Iowa City, too, and they were re-introduced by a friend. In their early teen years in Cherokee, they had attended the same school and this is where the “romance” began, continuing for a short time until Alice was 13, when her family moved to Clarinda, Iowa. Following Ed’s graduation from medical school in 1941, he and Alice were married on June 25th in Clarinda. The couple then moved to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where Ed completed his medical internship. After a year in LaCrosse, he worked in Clarinda for a short time before joining the United States Army Medical Corps. After joining the Army, Ed and Alice lived in California, where he took his basic training at Fort Ord. In April 1943, he was sent overseas to serve in the Pacific Theater. In 1945 he received an honorable discharge from the Army due to polio, which was diagnosed while he was in the Philippines.  Ed was transferred to two other hospitals in the Pacific and ultimately was sent state-side to Bushnell General Hospital in Brigham, Utah, where he recuperated and reunited with Alice, who joined him for the few months he was there.

After his condition improved, the couple returned to Iowa where their parents resided. In 1946, Ed began practicing medicine in Fort Dodge temporarily until he decided he wanted to have a practice of his own. He and Alice chose to move to Storm Lake, where he lived for 60 years. For 58 wonderful years, he lived with Alice by his side, until she passed away in 2004. He and Alice raised three daughters in Storm Lake: Pat, who was born while Ed was in the Philippines, and Susan and Ann, who were born after they moved to Storm Lake.

Ed was always a loyal and loving husband to Alice, as well as father to his daughters. He taught the values of hard work, keeping an open mind, and having compassion for those who are less fortunate.

“Doc”, as many people called him, was a very respected and prominent physician in the community where he was a General Practitioner and Anesthesiologist until he retired in 1988.

He was truly the “old time,” hometown doctor who continued to make house calls night and day. A few years prior to his retirement, he even delivered a baby in a blinding snow storm between Storm Lake and Newell. He would deliver medication and check on sick babies as well as the elderly, proving tender loving care to all of his patients. His “TLC” was often observed by his daughters who would accompany him on some of his visits. This exposure to medical practice helped determine their future careers.

Aside from the medical community, he was also well known as a very effective conservationist, philanthropist, educator and naturalist. He belonged to such organizations as Isaac Walton League, Kiwanis Club, and Lake Preservation Association, of which he was a founding member.

Dr. Shea was preceded in death by his wife Alice in July 2004; by his parents John and Margaret Shea; six siblings: Iona, John, Marie, Lewis, Bill and Bernice; nephews John and Donald Carlson; and nieces Helen Schmidt and Peggy Shea.

Survivors include his three daughters and their spouses: Patricia and Joe McPherson of Omaha, Nebraska, Susan and John Stewart of Billings, Montana; and Ann and Pete Stahl of Fort Worth, Texas; grandchildren: Kristopher Stewart and wife Sarah of Billings, Angela Stahl Smith and husband Bill of Dallas, Texas, Tobin Stewart and wife Kirsten of Lincoln, Nebraska, Matthew Stahl of Fort Worth, and Adam Stahl of Fort Worth; one great-granddaughter, Naomi Stewart of Billings, Montana; two great-grandsons: Jacob Stewart of Billings and Elija Stewart of Lincoln, Nebraska; Margaret Townsend, a niece residing in Storm Lake with her husband, John, who were “Doc” and Alice’s caregivers for several years. He is also survived by several other nieces and nephews living throughout the United States.