Obituary of Edward William Thien

Dear family & friends: Our beloved Edward passed away after a long battle with cancer. He died on March 21, 2011, at 6:30 PM at Largo Medical Center, Largo, Florida. Ed formerly lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, but always dreamed of moving to Florida. Barb said "he's Indian & I'm partly gypsy." They packed up all their worldly goods and headed southbound on the Interstate. He enjoyed fishing, cooking, computer skills. He taught himself on the computer and got really good at using the computers. He was one in a million. Cooking was a skill he really enjoyed. He'd try anything once but goetta and chili were two of his specialties. Ed leaves behind his loving & devoted wife Barbara. She was by his side the whole length of his illness. She now has a license for "pit bull" protection services - only kidding. Ed has 2 sisters,Sharon & Carol, and Rose a sister-in-law; 3 brothers-in-law, David & Larry, George (deceased). Ed was so proud of his nieces, Missy, Jamie & Shelli, and 2 nephew Tim & Mike. He was a great uncle to Jessica and Nick, Kasinda and Kendall. Ed also had many friends & extended family, but his friend "Billy Bob", aka Dave is like a son to him. Dave has helped Ed and Barb with household repairs & other jobs and was a big emotional support. Ed could do many different trades but his true love was horse owner and trainer. Barb and Ed had a nice farm where he cared for his own horses and boarded others. It was his true profession in life. Ed chose to be cremated and his ashes dispersed in the gulf and a small portion taken back to Cincinnati to be scattered over the graves of his mom & dad. Ed fought a long battle but was unable to win this one. He's in heaven now & Lord only knows he deserved the celestial palace. We will all miss him tremendously, but he is at peace now. Services will be held at a later date in Cincinnati, Ohio. Watch for further information on this site referring to Ed's services to be held in Cincinnati. Sincerely, The Thien family 1985 Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper story Running a feed store in Greater Cincinnati is a bit like selling snow shovels in Samoa, but Ed Thien is determined to try. Thien is owner of Newtown Feed Supply on Ohio 32 in Newtown, seller of feed for dog, cat, horse, cow, goat, catfish, pigeon, trout, and about anything else that doesn't use a knife and fork. The store even sells a bit of Purina Monkey Chow, but of course not all of it is consumed by monkeys. "A lot of folks feed it to their toucans" Thien explained. Though he has owned the business for two years, Thien, 27, says it still is on trial. He won't commit himself to a long term relationship until he is reasonably certain it can survive the creeping urbanization that, ironically, is pumping new life into much of eastern Hamilton County. When his late father, also named Edward, started the business 20 years ago, Newtown was in the midst of farmland, and livestock farming was plentiful. "We had several large chicken farms within three or four miles" Thien said. "I'd make deliveries. I'd start over here at Mount Carmel, then run over to Withamsville and all over the place. I'd make 30 stops a day". The rolling countryside surrounding the village retains a pastoral look, but many of the farms have disappeared, plowed under by developers and re-planted with subdivisions and shopping areas to feed the emigrating stock of city-dwellers. Horse feed, once about half of the store's business, now accounts for 90% of it, and part of that comes from River Downs race track. Nowadays, he said, most people can afford to keep only a horse or two, if that. Newtown Feed has been at its present location, on Ohio 32, for only two years, but it might well have been there for a century or more. The red-white-and-blue Purina Feeds sign hangs comfortably from the worn tan, simulated-brick siding of the two-story, peaked-roof building. Inside, 100-pound bags of feed, sorted by variety, are stacked neatly on the scuffed, dusty hardwood floor. At one side, a makeshift ladder climbs toward an irregular hole in the ceiling and the upstairs apartment of Thien's part-time helper. At the rear, a small doorway reveals Thien's dingy, closetlike office, which contains one of the store's few concessions to modern technology---a telephone answering device. On this muggy morning, the front door is propped open, an invitation to the fresh, but sticky outside air. The gritty breeze is circulated by a fan churning atop two Pabst cases that are overturned behind the cluttered desk. Toby, a brown mutt who is the store's unofficial greeter, sniffs a visitor disinterestedly and then curls up lazily on the floor, oblivious to a pair of kittens pouncing playfully at each other nearby in spite of the heat. Sweat plasters Thien's dark, curly hair against his forehead and slowly darkens his blue work shirt. It isn't hard to work up a sweat hefting 100 pound bags in the late summer humidity and Thien has hefted his share on this day. That's part of the service that separates places like Newtown Feed from the chain operations, Thien said. He's a short, square bulldog like man. When he isn't busy he works out with barbells he stashes at the store. That keeps his muscular arms bulging even when he isn't toting feed sacks. "Chain Stores, pet stores handle a lot of pet supplies", he said. "They've got the volume, so they might be able to give you a better price. But they don't have the service". "You come in here, I'll tell you what you need, and then I'll take it out and put it in the car for you". That's mild compared with past services. The store used to give customers' chickens blood tests and castrate their hogs for them, free of charge. Thien still delivers, though. "Sometimes, I'll get to a place and find a note asking me to put some feed in the feeder", he said. "I'm glad to do it, but I draw the line at mucking stalls". Fact is, Thien is willing to do about anything to lure business. A philosophical tactician, he has tried advertising, radio spots and even calling and writing customers past and present. "It's like a marble game. You gather them together. A few roll out, but you win a few more." The main problem, he said, is the higher price he inevitably must charge because he lacks the mammoth volume of chain operations. "People don't understand. They think you ought to be like the Rainbow Bread store. There isn't that much markup in this." For example, Thien sold $100,000.00 worth of feed retail last year, but his net profit was only $7,000.00, and much of that has been reinvested. That gives you some idea of why his business is still in the trial stage. "Volume is the key," he said. You have to have a lot of it. Dad didn't want to let the place get any bigger than he could take care of, but I have to get more business. At conventions, Purina officials have told their dealers they should diversify to protect themselves. That's why Thien carries Lab Chow for laboratory animals, items like pickling jugs and a few pet supplies. He'd like to sell some home canning goods, but is afraid that supermarkets and department stores already have too firm a foothold there. Still, Thien sees reason for optimism about the future. "The city's creeping up on people, but you are seeing more backyard farming. They're raising their own chickens to get their own eggs." The goat people are coming back too. We're starting to sell more goat feed. Maybe it's the natural food kick, more people drinking goat's milk". Thien is willing to be patient for a while longer. His wife has a good job as a laboratory technician, and that helps. For his part, Thien realizes he could make more money working in factories, as he has in the past, but would rather be his own boss. "I just want to get enough volume to pay the bills and make a decent salary", he said.