Earl died April 25, 2004. He was born March 30, 1920 in Kakomo, Indiana. He grew up in Indiana and Michigan. In 1938 the family moved to Harrisburg, OR, and Earl was established in farming by 1941 when he was called into Civilian Public Service.

Earl was accepted to the smokejumper program and jumped at McCall during the 1944 and '45 seasons. He had three fire jumps in 1944 and seven during the '45 season to go with 11 practice jumps.

After his release from CPS, he went back to farming in Albany, OR, raising grass seed.