Edna Lawson (Jurgens) Edwards

Troy, NY - Edna Lawson Jurgens Edwards died on January 7, 2015 at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center, Troy, NY.  She was born on June 6, 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland,  the only child of Annette Lawson Jurgens and Howard Jurgens.  Her mother taught high school level Biology for many years in Baltimore. Her father was the treasurer of Sherwood Brothers, Inc., a local home heating oil and gasoline company servicing Maryland and nearby Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Edwards attended Baltimore public school from kindergarten through her graduation from Western High school in 1939. In 1938, she spent several weeks in Hannover, Germany, as part of a high school exchange program, during an interesting but frightening time, with war imminent.

Mrs. Edwards graduated from Goucher College with a B.A. in Political Science in June, 1943; she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, a social fraternity, and was elected to Phi beta Kappa in her senior year. After graduation in June, 1943, she married David Alexander Edwards in the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. David had also been in the German student exchange program.  David graduated in February 1943 from Johns Hopkins with a degree in chemical engineering.  He also earned an M. S. degree from Johns Hopkins while working on a special war time project.

In Baltimore, two daughters were born; Annette Randolph Edwards, December 24, 1944; Margaret McCormick Edwards, March 20, 1947.  After the war, Mr. Edwards accepted a position with the Naugatuck Chemical Division of the U.S. Rubber Company.  The family moved to Woodbury, CT.  A son, Andrew Jurgens Edwards, was born there March 28, 1953.

After moving to to Shaker Heights, Ohio in 1957, Mrs. Edwards earned her M.A. in political science from Case Western Reserve University in 1966 and subsequently worked in the Development Office there.  She was later employed by St. Luke’s Hospital in Cleveland. After retirement in 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards moved to Ashland, Ohio. In 1992, they moved to Troy, NY to be near their son and his family.  In April 2002, Mr. Edwards died in Troy and in 2006 their daughter, Annette Edwards Reiserer, died of breast cancer.

Mrs. Edwards is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen T. Hunt (Margaret Edwards) of Denver, CO; her son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Edwards (Cherrie Bennett) of Troy, NY; 5 grandchildren and four great grandchildren; and her life long friend, Helen Moorefield.

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