Edwin Karl Werkheiser, II

Edwin Karl Werkheiser II, a U.S. Navy veteran who grew up in Jackson and had an abiding love for his deer camp family along with his own, died July 6, 2026, at the Mississippi Veterans Home in Kosciusko. He was 82.

Known to all as “Eddy,” he was born January 12, 1944, in Greensboro, N.C., to Dr. Edwin Brooks

Werkheiser and Nellie Sue McNeil Werkheiser, of Philadelphia (MS) and Jackson. A student in Jackson public schools, he graduated Murrah High School in 1962 and Mississippi State University in 1966, with a degree in political science.

After graduation, he enlisted in the Navy, serving 13 months on the USS Ranger aircraft carrier in 1970-71 during the Vietnam War, including in the Gulf of Tonkin and Subic Bay. Following military service, he attended Hinds Community College, focused on the engineering drafting and design program. He applied those skills in working at Smith and Sanders Inc. and at Neel-Schaffer Engineering.

For 43 years, Eddy was a member of the High Hill Hunting Club in Claiborne County.

He was preceded in death by his parents and by his grandparents, Josie and Marvin G. McNeil and Jessie G. and Edwin Karl Werkheiser.

He is survived by his son, Army Col. Edwin Brooks Werkheiser II and his wife, retired Air Force

Col. Amanda Gookins Werkheiser, both of Yorktown, VA; grandson, Andy Werkheiser, also of

Yorktown; brother, M. Brooks Werkheiser (Celeste) of Jacksonville Beach, FL; and sister, Susan Werkheiser Thompson (William) of Madison, MS; and four nieces and nephews and eight great-nieces and great-nephews.

A gathering of family and deer camp family and friends will be held at High Hill Hunting Club at a later date in remembrance and honor of Eddy.

The family expresses deep appreciation and thanks to the entire staff of the Mississippi Veterans Home in Kosciusko for their genuine kindness and devoted caregiving.

Memorials may be sent to the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, P.O. Box 4226, Jackson, MS 39296 or Friends of Mississippi Veterans (on-line) or mail to 1052 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 100, Ridgeland, MS 39157. Please designate your gift is for the Mississippi Veterans Home in Kosciusko, Mississippi.