Fond remembrance for former pastor killed in bike accident

The Columbia Falls community is mourning the death of a former pastor. Edward H. Folkwein, 67, was found off U.S. Highway 2 about 22 miles west of Leavenworth, Washington on July 27. Folkwein apparently died from injuries related to a bicycle accident.

Motorists found him about 1 p.m. alongside the road. There was no evidence that he was hit by a car. Folkwein was on a 450-mile ride looping through Washington state with some friends, said his daughter-in-law Laurie Walker. They had just gone over a pass and he had ridden about 30 minutes ahead of the group when the accident happened.

Folkwein was active in the Columbia Falls United Methodist Church. He was a retired minister and was also the janitor at the church, said friend and fellow church member Mary Bond.

Bond and Folkwein both served with on the pastoral church group. The church is in between pastors currently and Folkwein, being an ordained minister, was able to give communion. He was also a member of the Flathead Valley Barbershop Chorus.

"He was an adventurous person," Bond said. "He loved being on his bike. He loved to sing and had a sense of humor that was a lot of fun. We really loved Ed. It's going to be a big loss."

Ed and his wife, Shirley, moved back to the Rogers' family farm in Columbia Falls in 2010. Previously they lived in Billings.

"He was a man that was beloved by everyone," Kathleen O'Neal, former executive director of Habitat for Humanity Mid-Yellowstone Valley in Billings told the Billings Gazette. "We used to say that's one of the things that helped the ReStore get started - people came in to see him."

Folkwein was the first manager of the ReStore. The retail outlet sells used building materials, furniture and other items.

He graduated from Struthers High School in 1966 and earned a degree in radio-television broadcasting from the University of Montana in 1970. He worked in radio and television in the Flathead Valley for a time. He earned his master's of divinity in 1983 and was ordained as a pastor in the Yellowstone Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1985.