Ron Grossman
Here's another "Ed-ism". I recall Ed often would say "Woof!" to emphasize his enthusiasm for something we were talking about. I would invariably reply with, "Woof, indeed!" I've often speculated on the origins of Ed's "Woof!"-s.
Scenario 1: Perhaps it was some special signal used when he and his cohorts worked as "bell-dogs" unloading/loading guest luggage for the Denali Princess Hotel from the trains from/to Anchorage, back in the 1980's. Example- a "Woof!" to indicate a job well done.
Scenario 2: Maybe Ed was taught his "Woof!" by the sled dog huskies at the hotel's Doggie Demos. I recall during a 1995 visit seeing retired Iditarod veteran Lumpy nodding in approval at Ed's vocal prowess when making that distinctly canine uttering.
It really doesn't matter if we ever find out. I may have once asked Ed to settle this mystery and have forgotten his answer, but his "Woof!" remains with me to this day as a smile-bringing recollection.
I came up with my own nickname for Ed, though I never mentioned it to him or anyone else. Ed was a voracious and fast walker. When in NYC he walked everywhere, often forsaking the subway when his own legs could do the journey of many city blocks, no matter what the weather was, good or bad. It wasn't uncommon for him to start out from his apartment on Manhattan's West Side near Lincoln Center and hoof it on downtown all the way to The Battery and back, or to meet me after work at the Yale Club in Midtown where I worked as a massage therapist. to me Ed was "Strider", what the small Hobbits of The Shire called Aragorn (played by Vitto Morgensen in the films) in Tolkein's "Lord of the Ring" trilogy. Earth, not Middle Earth, is where Ed walked and we are left to follow in his far apart footsteps.
When I think of Ed and his impact on all of our lives, now that he's no longer physically with us, the title of a 1986 song by The Smiths comes to mind, "There Is A Light Which Never Goes Out".
Ron Grossman