OBITUARY Charles “Buck” Edwards Passed away on January 27, 2019 Charles “Buck” Edwards, 89, passed away surrounded by family in his home Sunday afternoon, January 27, after a brave fight with cancer. Born as Charles Malcolm Edwards Jr. in Greer SC on April 12, 1929, he was given the nickname “Buck” by his father and was raised in Winston Salem, North Carolina. As a teenager, Dad drove a school bus while he was a student in high school.
He also worked with his father as a plasterer in the construction business. Dad married his life long love, Rose Lee Hege of Advance, North Carolina on September 1, 1951. He was then sent overseas to serve in the Korean War as an Army trained radio repairman.
He returned from Korea and cultivated that skill into an engineering career. With Mom’s encouragement, Army training, and high school education, Dad applied for a job with IBM and having passed the company’s aptitude test, was offered a job in Greensboro, North Carolina as a Customer Engineer. Dad’s career at IBM spanned 37 years.
To advance his career, he sought transfers to new locations with new assignments in product engineering. He found new opportunities with IBM in Lexington, Kentucky in 1963 and then Austin, Texas in 1968. Buck was a loving and devoted husband, a father of four boys, and a hard working provider for his family.
Dad was a serious DIY’er and he could “engineer” a fix or enhancement for almost any automotive or household problem. He loved gardening and keeping his workshops organized and his vehicle engines sparkling clean. Buck was a member of St. George’s and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Churches.
He was a member of 2 Masonic lodges, Colorado Lodge #96 and Norton Moses Lodge #336. He was also a member of the Legion of Honor of the Ben Hur Shrine Temple. Dad and Mom were married for 61 ½ years.
Together they loved dancing and going on cruises. Sometimes both at the same time on a dance themed cruise. They belonged to 7 dance clubs and went on 12 cruises.
Dad always set a great example as a loving husband and father. His greatest example to us was his care for Mom during her battle with Alzheimer’s. He relentlessly cared for Mom for 5 years at home, then dutifully visited every day when she lived in Cedar Ridge Alzheimer’s Care Center for 6 years until her passing in 2013.
Like his headstone reads “Father to 3 Generations”, Dad had “3 tours of duty” watching youth baseball, soccer and basketball games. He watched many a game of his sons, grandsons and great grandsons. There was a special joy when at last he got to watch his great-granddaughter’s game.
Buck was preceded in death by his wife, Rose Lee Hege Edwards, oldest son Charles M., III (Kip), parents, Charles Malcolm Edwards, Sr, and Leta Jenkins Edwards and sister Elizabeth “Peggie” Hopkins. He is survived by sons, Mark Edwards and wife Johna, Mike Edwards, Ken Edwards and wife Regina; grandsons John Mark Edwards and wife Nicole, Hayden Edwards and wife Jackie, Austin Charles Edwards, and Luke Edwards; great-grandsons Jackson Edwards and Corbin Edwards; and great-granddaughter Alivia Evelyn-Rose Edwards. He is also survived by his brother Melvin Thomas “Tommy” Edwards and wife Jo of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, and brother-in-laws Bob Hege and wife Bobbie of Greensboro, North Carolina, Gene Hopkins of Lexington, South Carolina and John Dunn of Kernsville, North Carolina, along with many nieces and nephews back in the Carolinas and Virginia.
The family will receive friends from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 1, 2019 at Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Funeral Chapel in Pflugerville, Texas. Funeral services will begin at 1:00 p.m. followed by a committal service in Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to Shriners Hospital for Children, www.
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