Funeral services were held Monday for noted historian and photographer Edward F. “Ted” Deacon of Whitehaven.

Born Sept. 12, 1922, in St. Louis, Mo., he died Tuesday, July 26, 2022 – six weeks short of his 100th birthday.

He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as an officer and pilot in the U.S. Air Force during and after World War II.

He was a B17 bomber pilot at the end of the war and was later stationed at various air bases in Germany, France and North Africa. Among other assignments throughout Europe he participated in the Berlin Airlift prior to his reassignment back in the states.

He resigned his commission in December 1949 to enter the business world; until 1991, he held several executive positions with various manufacturers and distributors in the commercial flooring industry.

During his business career he was a past President of the Atlanta Floor Covering Association, National Sales Manager for the Commercial Carpet Corp. in New York, Vice President and Contract Division Manager of A.R.M. Industries in Philadelphia, President of Sequoyah Industries in Oklahoma, and finally Senior Vice President of the Blacknall Co. in Atlanta.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore always held a strong attraction, and in 1991 he and his wife, Micki, chose historic Whitehaven as their retirement location.

He was the first president of the Whitehaven Heritage Association and he continued on its board following his two terms as president. He also served on the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Committee.

In 1999 he initiated and led the effort in the creation of Whitehaven as a Designated Historic District by the Wicomico County Council.

He was also elected to the board for the Friends of Poplar Hill Mansion during the 1990s, and served as Board Chairman in 2004 and 2005.

In his retirement, he pursued an active second career with his longtime interest and involvement in professional photography. He produced much of the advertising and brochure photography for Wicomico County and Worcester County Tourism, and for a number of inns, hotels, restaurants and other businesses throughout the region.

He was honored with the Attractions of the Year award for the year 2000 by the Wicomico County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In addition many of his pictorial and scenic photography have been exhibited and sold by various galleries in Salisbury and other Lower Shore locales. Along with his talents as a photographer, he was an accomplished pianist and artist, carving and painting beautiful shore birds for friends and family.

His larger-than-life personality was best characterized by a friend who once said, “Ted should have had his own sitcom in the ’50s.” That summed him up perfectly.

He is survived by his four children, Edward “Ted” III, Angela, Gwynne and David; four stepchildren, Suzanne, Dan, Mimi and Phillip; and 14 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife in May 2021; and his oldest daughter, Donna, in February of this year.

A graveside service with military honors was held Monday, Aug. 1, 2022, at Springhill Memory Gardens in Hebron. Arrangements are in the care of Bounds Funeral Home in Salisbury.