Edward Zaven Lilian

A funeral for Edward Zaven Lilian, 82, a Minden resident for the past 15 years, will be at 1 p.m. Friday at St. Gall's Catholic Church.

A viewing will be 4-6 p.m. Thursday at FitzHenry's Carson Valley Funeral Home and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday at St. Gall's.

Mr. Lilian died Nov. 20, 2003, at Washoe Medical Center. He was born Dec. 11, 1920, in Fresno, Calif., to Vartan Toros and Alice Polorian Shamirian Lilian. His parents immigrated to America from Armenia in the early 1900s.

He attended schools in Oakland and Los Angeles, Calif.

Before moving to Minden, he lived in Pasadena, Calif., for seven years; Downey, Calif., for seven years; and Oakland for 30 years.

Mr. Lilian was an aerospace engineer and coordinated and instructed the military in air defense missiles. He designed ground-support equipment for Apollo spacecraft. He worked in Saudi Arabia, Greenland, China and Japan.

He was a PBY flight engineer during World War II in the South Pacific and on the USS Princeton in Korea. He also was chief engineer in the fighter squadron.

Among his survivors are his wife, Betsy of Minden; son, Richard; sister, Gladys; and nieces and nephews.

Burial will be at Eastside Memorial Park in Minden.

FitzHenry's Carson Valley Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.