They met at jubilant festivities on May 8, 1945 when World war II ended in Europe. Ed was a newly-trained pilot in the British Royal Air Force and Elizabeth an ambulance driver. One can only imagine the delirious joy when the war, which had caused such damage to the English countryside and its people, finally came to an end after all those traumatic years of peril.
Ed and many servicemen from other branches had gathered at a pub in Liverpool and excitement ran high as they exchanged hats to celebrate the victory. Elizabeth entered the pub with her sister-ambulance drivers to join in the jubilation. After some time at that pub, they all went down the road to a place where there was dancing. Elizabeth was counting out her money for admission, when Ed came over to ask her to dance and within a two week period they were engaged to be married. That marriage certainly worked out well, as that couple is happily ensconced in Transylvania County in 2009.
Ed Tilston expressed his indomitable spirit with his answer to a comment that the war in Europe fortunately ended before he got into the fight, and that was lucky for him: "At the time, I didn't think so,because I was anxious to get into it. So, I immediately joined the Naval Air Force for service in the Pacific. I was probably the only one who was redundant in two services during the same war. In both cases, the fighting was over by the time I was through with the training, " Ed ruefully declared.
Ed and Elisabeth married in December, 1945, Elizabeth staying behind in England as she was pregnant with heir daughter, Jennifer, when Ed accepted a position in Brazil in 1946 as an inspector of incoming cargo on international freighters. When the baby was old enough to travel, Elizabeth left England on the last coal-burning ship for Fortaleza, North Brazil. Forteleza was the capital of the state of Ceara and a coastal city at the edge of the northern desert, a place of eternal sunshine.
"I had the owner's cabin aboard ship and when the time came to go ashore at Forteleza, the captain wanted to say goodbye to me. When I returned to get my baby daughter, I found that she had already been tossed down into cradling arms on a tugboat, since there was no dock to receive the ship;s passengers. When they told you to jump down to the tug, you just did it!" Elizabeth recalled.
Forteleza was an interesting place to live for two years with many new and exciting aspects for the young Tilston Family. As an added bonus, Western Telegraph had a beautiful place on the beach that was simply gorgeous with miles and miles of welcoming sand; and they used to invite Elizabeth and the baby to spend weekends there.
After two years and a spell of home leave in England, the family went to Sao Luis de Maranhao, where they saw their first shrunken head with red hair. They recalled that a red-haired young man had asked them to look after his mail when he was going into the jungle as a missionary and they were repulsed at the sight. Also, although their house was not really primitive, as it was nicely furnished and they had servants, there were big iron rings under the house where slaves used to be tied.
Their next post was Manaus, 1000 miles up the Amazon River, where Caruso sang in the beautiful opera house built at the turn of the century from proceeds of the rubber boom. The rubber trees grow haphazardly in the jungle, are tapped like Maple trees for syrup for a white substance that turns into a ball shaped like a football. Some rubber tree seeds were smuggled to Singapore, where the trees were planted in rows for easier harvesting.
After Manaus, they were stationed at Iquitos, Peru, which was 2200 miles up the Amazon. There were strong Army, Air Force and Navy contingents there and the Tilstons became close friends with Admiral Juan Francisco Torres Matos, the commander of the naval base and later co-president of Peru. There was very little English spoken in Iquitos, so the Tilstons learned to speak fluent Spanish, something that served them well.
Ed held various positions there: including Agent of Lloyd's of London, Correspondent of the Board of Underwriters of New York, Agent of the Booth Steamship Line, Agent of Panair do Brazil (Brazilian Airline); Fawcett Aviation Company (Peruvian Airline) and British Consul invested by the British Embassy in Lima, Peru.
The Amazon River carries freighters and even gunboats, the entire 2200 miles up that river. In fact, the Amazon carries more water than the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Nile, and the Rhine rivers combined and has 20% of the word's fresh water. The pressure of the current coming out of the Amazon into the ocean is so great that there is still fresh water 150 miles out in the Atlantic at the mouth of the river.
The Amazon has seven tributaries that are over 1,000 miles long each and is navigable all the way. About once a year, when the snow melts in the Andes Mountains in Peru, there is a rising of about 60 ft. of water that comes rushing down the river and helps carve out he deep channels. So, large ships are able to navigate the river all year around. However, they are careful not to stray outside of the channel and get stuck when the water level is low.
Everything to build houses in Iquitos was brought up by ship, including the doorknobs. The Tilston house was huge with a veranda running all around it, surrounded by heavy wire to keep out animals or anything else that might get in. Elizabeth said that the house had an indoor swimming pool and a billiard room; and Ed chimed in: "and The Ghost!"
"Oh, yes I saw the ghost, but only one time. We had just arrived at the house and were in a huge bedroom. It was a funny thing. I woke up at 2:00 a.m., wide awake, and put the light on and saw nothing. The next night, I did the same thing, as I awoke at 2;00. The third night I woke again and there was a man in a sitting position in a beautiful white linen suit. He wasn't looking at me, so I looked at him," Elizabeth revealed.
When asked if she was frightened at the sight of the man, Elizabeth answered: "No not al all. He was so peaceful. the next day I went up the street and told what I had seen. A man went in his office and said: "Yes, I think I've got a picture of that man." I looked at the picture and it was the man I had seen in my room. It turned out that the man had lived in the house previously and had died in it. It must have been at 2:00 a.m. when he died, so he came back to visit. The next night we moved out of that room and I never saw him again," Elizabeth said.
Adrian Edwin Tilston was born, July 25, 1955 in Iquitos and now lives in Sarasota, Florida where he is a computer programmer. From Iquitos the Tilstons went to the Peruvian capital of Lima, where they lived for three years from 1957 to 1959. They then moved to Port of Spain, Trinidad for one year, then back to England for a year. Then they made another move to the port of New Orleans from 1962 to 1963; and thence to New York City. Ed and Elizabeth became American citizens in 1969.
Jennifer and Adrian went to school in England, Jennifer to Roedean and Adrian to Rugby. They also attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where Jennifer was Queen of World Trade Week and given the key to the city. From New Orleans, Jennifer went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then onto the Broadway Stage. Meanwhile, after Tulane, Adrian attended Pace College in New York.
Ed formed his own company in New York, Tilston Roberts Corporation, where he was a General Agent for Overseas Ship Lines. He represented many steamship companies, mostly government-owned lines such as Peruvian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Zairian, Indonesian, Pakistani, P. & O. of London, etc. When their ships called at U.S. ports they came consigned to his company and they then arranged for their cargoes (in and out), ordered tugs, pilots, berths, collection of freight, etc.
Elizabeth and Ed traveled around the world extensively, since it was necessary to visit the different government ship-owners. However, when the container trade replaced the general cargo trade of the government lines and business fell off, he closed the company.
"We lived in New York for a dozen years after retirement and then we were lucky enough to learn about Connestee Falls from one of our friends. We simply love Brevard and the friendliness of the people. We were so impressed on one of our first shopping trips when a Brevard shopkeeper took the time to direct us to another store that sold an item which he did not carry," Ed exclaimed.
The Tilstons live on top of a mountain where they have a breathtaking view of the countryside. They are surrounded by wildlife and Elizabeth recalls that they had a funny experience with red mulch. They had put three bags of the mulch outside and noticed one bag was missing after they returned from shopping. She couldn't understand why any one would take just one bag. She called the Security Department and they told her it was probably a bear that carried it off. The next day after they returned from another shopping trip, the found that another bag of mulch was missing. Then a hand-made broom that she was especially fond of disappeared from her front porch. She laughed and agreed that the bear probably needed the broom to spread out the mulch
Then, one day, she was sitting in her house and saw a big bear looking at her through the window. "He was eyeballing me and I was looking at him very calmly as I didn't want to move. I had called Ed to come take a picture of the bear, but the bear then got fed up with the whole thing and moved away, So Ed could only get a picture of his departing tail," Elizabeth recalled.
Since their retirement in Transylvania, Elisabeth has taken up pastel and watercolor painting, has knitted hundreds of prayers shawls for people in institutions, plus enjoyed many rounds of her favorite game of golf. Meanwhile Ed writes historical novels and has five of them published: Cape Bojator; The Gateway to Hell; Martin Alonso Pinzon, the mariner who preempted Columbus; The Route to Prester John; The Rape of Tawantinsuyo; and the Methuselah Legacy.
Ed is a very talented writer and has a tremendous facility with the use of the written word. His descriptions of scenes make the reader feel that he is present at the action and make the stories he writes come vividly to life.
Jennifer, the Tilston's beloved daughter, recently passed away and they would like to express their appreciation to the doctors, nurses, and staff of Transylvania Regional Hospital who showed Jennifer so much loving care and compassion during her terminal illness. The Tilstons were exceedingly impressed with the personnel at the hospital and how much the concerned care meant to their daughter and to them. Lorraine Miller Brevard
