34 Facts About Edward Abbey

Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views.

Edward Abbey graduated from high school in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1945.

Eight months before his 18th birthday, when he would be faced with being drafted into the United States military, Edward Abbey decided to explore the American southwest.

Edward Abbey traveled by foot, bus, hitchhiking, and freight train hopping.

Edward Abbey was promoted in the military twice but due to his knack for opposing authority, was twice demoted and was honorably discharged as a private.

Shortly before getting his bachelor's degree, Edward Abbey married his first wife, Jean Schmechal.

The FBI took note and added a note to his file which was opened in 1947 when Edward Abbey committed an act of civil disobedience; he posted a letter while in college urging people to rid themselves of their draft cards.

Edward Abbey was on the FBI's watch-list ever since then and was watched throughout his life.

Towards the later parts of his life Edward Abbey learned of the FBI's interest in him and said "I'd be insulted if they weren't watching me".

In 1951 Edward Abbey began having an affair with Rita Deanin, who in 1952 would become his second wife after he and Schmechal divorced.

Deanin and Abbey had two children, Joshua N Abbey and Aaron Paul Abbey.

In 1956 and 1957, Edward Abbey worked as a seasonal ranger for the United States National Park Service at Arches National Monument, near the town of Moab, Utah.

Edward Abbey lived in a house trailer that had been provided to him by the Park Service, as well as in a ramada that he built himself.

Edward Abbey's second son Aaron was born in 1959, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Douglas once said that when Edward Abbey visited the film set, he looked and talked so much like friend Gary Cooper that Douglas was disconcerted.

However, over 25 years later when Edward Abbey died, Douglas wrote that he had 'never met' him.

On October 16,1965 Edward Abbey married Judy Pepper, who accompanied Edward Abbey as a seasonal park ranger in the Florida Everglades, and then as a fire lookout in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Judy was separated from Edward Abbey for extended periods of time while she attended the University of Arizona to get her master's degree.

Judy died of leukemia on July 11,1970, an event that crushed Edward Abbey, causing him to go into "bouts of depression and loneliness" for years.

Rather it was a story about a woman with whom Edward Abbey had an affair in 1963.

Edward Abbey finished the first draft of Black Sun in 1968, two years before Judy died, and it was "a bone of contention in their marriage".

However, Edward Abbey was always gone so they divorced after four years of marriage.

Edward Abbey met his fifth and final wife, Clarke Cartwright in 1978, and married her in 1982.

In 1984, Edward Abbey went back to the University of Arizona to teach courses in creative writing and hospitality management.

Edward Abbey devoted an entire chapter in his book Hayduke Lives to the events that took place at the Rendezvous.

Edward Abbey was extremely offended, and demanded a public apology, stating that he was neither racist nor a supporter of terrorism.

Edward Abbey died on March 14,1989, at the age of 62, in his home in Tucson, Arizona.

Edward Abbey's death was due to complications from surgery; he suffered four days of esophageal hemorrhaging, due to esophageal varices, which is a recurrent problem with one group of veins.

Edward Abbey did not want to be embalmed or placed in a coffin.

On March 14,1989, the day Edward Abbey died from esophageal bleeding at 62, Peacock, along with his friend Jack Loeffler, his father-in-law Tom Cartwright, and his brother-in-law Steve Prescott, wrapped Edward Abbey's body in his blue sleeping bag, packed it with dry ice, and loaded Cactus Ed into Loeffler's Chevy pickup.

Edward Abbey is survived by two daughters, Susannah and Becky; and three sons, Joshua, Aaron and Benjamin.

Edward Abbey has a nephew, David Abbey, who used to pick orders for Baxter Healthcare in Norcross, Georgia.

Edward Abbey wanted to preserve the wilderness as a refuge for humans and believed that modernization was making us forget what was truly important in life.

Agrarian author Wendell Berry claimed that Edward Abbey was regularly criticized by mainstream environmental groups because Edward Abbey often advocated controversial positions that were very different from those which environmentalists were commonly expected to hold.