On Saturday April 18, 2026, Edward Motter went peacefully into the arms of our Lord.

His father Edward Thomas Motter, Sr., called him Buddy, but as he entered grade school in Baltimore and went on to Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and earned an electrical engineering degree from Georgia Tech (1970), he called himself Bud.

Ed worked in the ship repair business, and he and Sam and their children and pets moved from Baltimore to Jacksonville and finally to Houston in 1982.  They settled in Nassau Bay.  In 1998, he became President of Maritime Berthing, Inc, the company that he started. He never retired.  That same year he became a friend of Bill W., and he joined Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.  He was devoted to the choir.  When he became too weak to rehearse but still wanted his spot, they joyfully accommodated him.

Edwards Thomas Motter Jr. retired from his role as the head of the Johnny Unitas Fan Club, only by leaving this plane of existence.  It was rumored that he exclaimed TODAY’S THE DAY (Mel Fisher’s Maritime Museum founder’s mantra) as he expired, but as he died peacefully at home with his dog Cookie, his bed partner Mouse The Cat and was tended to by his wife of 22 years Peg, we are assured he did not.

Ed loved Georgia Tech Football and was a devoted Yellow Jackets fan, making the trek to Atlanta every year at homecoming with his good friend Jamie Higgins. When they got too old to make the stadium steps, they took turns visiting in each other’s living rooms to watch the games.  When he didn’t like a play or a ref call, he would quote an announcer who shouted, “Go To War, Miss Agnes!”

Ed played guitar during college.  He had an old oar painted red and an inverted wash tub and a rope tied to the tub and the top of the oar, and made a makeshift bass out of it. He was hired to play guitar in different bars and his friends would follow him to hear him play.  Some of his most famous lyrics were “I’m sorry I made you cry but your face is much cleaner now”.    The grandchildren knew Ed as OD, short for Old Dude.  Most of them remember him for saying “Here’s an old sock for your head” or “never eat anything bigger than your head.”

Ed leaves behind his brother Steve Ellwood (Terry + Charley ), his wife Peg, his son Edward Thomas Magicthighs Motter-Vlahakos (Alicia), his daughters Sonja Anne (Jeremy) and Georgia Emily, Peg’s daughter Libby Zaghw (Ibrahim), a daughter form another mother Sue Perkins, and the grandchildren he always referred to as “the kids”  Maxwell Thomas, Logan Moriarty, Joseph Remo, Seraphine Snapdragon, Freya Anne, Mary Kate Peachee, Clyde Herring.

In our memory are William Maxwell Perkins, Joseph Andrew Motter and David Moriarty Perkins.  Please pray for them and all those loved ones who have gone on before us.

The memorial service will be at the Chapel at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church at 18220 Upper Bay Road, Nassau Bay, Texas, on May 7 at 11:00.  Visitation is at 10:00.  Family will do the committal of the ashes at a later date.