Edna Alice Carter, 72, passed away August 23, 2026, at Helen Keller Hospital, Sheffield, AL. A celebration of life will be on Sunday, Oct. 11, Shelter #2, McFarland Park, time TBD.
Edna was born on August 10, 1954, in Moulton, Alabama to Sarah and Edward Carter. At an early age she became an avid reader and showed a talent for music.
Her sister Mary lovingly recalls the time she, as an upset 5-year-old, was comforted by her big sister Edna, who made up an entertaining story entitled “Mama’s Horse,” and illustrating it, as she spoke, with drawings.
Music being a big part of their lives as they grew up, Edna and her siblings all enjoyed singing in the choir at 1st Methodist Church of Florence.
Edna, her three younger siblings, Oliver, Joan and Mary, along with their cousin, Suzannah McDonald, were so enamored by the 1968 musical film Oliver, that they would reenact it, rehearsing every day after school, under Edna’s stern direction. They also enjoyed singing Civil War songs while touring battlefields of that era with their parents. Even in adulthood, Edna could still remember the lyrics to all of these songs.
An excellent student, while attending Bradshaw High School, in Florence, AL, Edna was allowed to skip a grade and consequently enrolled in the University of North Alabama at an early age. She eventually settled on a major in accounting, but she left before graduating.
After marrying Kent Liles, she gave birth to a son, Israel Lee Liles. After her divorce from Liles, Edna moved to Phoenix, AZ, where she sang with bands and worked in a music store. Returning home to Florence, AL, Edna signed as a songwriter with Cactus Studio, in Sheffield. At this time, she also sang in several local bands, including Rocking Horse. In 1983 Edna married musician Charles Rose and they performed in several bands together, including The Raiders of the Lost Dog, The Chuck Rivers Band, The Carter Sisters, where they were joined by Edna’s sister Mary, and the Lyman Mitchell Big Band.
In 1987 Edna enrolled once again at UNA and began working in the accounting firm of Lynch and Lynch. In 1988 she graduated with honors, with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
The family then moved to Nashville, TN, where Edna worked at several accounting firms and enrolled in graduate school at Belmont University, earning her Master of Business Administration degree and once again graduating with honors.
In 1990 Edna took the CPA exam. Coming home after the final day of the exam, Edna, in tears, told Charles that she was certain she had flunked the final section of the exam. It turns out that she did not flunk it, receiving the John Glenn Award for coming in 1st in the State of Tennessee on the exam. She also was awarded the Elijah Watt Sells certificate “in recognition of performance with high distinction in submitting papers of outstanding merit for the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination.”
At this time, Edna worked at the large Nashville CPA firm of Crosslin Vaden & Associates. Then in 1993, the family moved back to the Muscle Shoals, AL area, where Edna became Chief Financial Officer at Lexington Fabrics, a textile company located in nearby Lexington, AL.
In the late 1990’s she worked as a CPA at Abroms & Associates in Florence, until having to retire for health reasons.
In 2001, along with her husband Charles, Edna was active in Citizens for Saving the TVA Trail, a group formed to save the TVA Nature Trail Area from being devastated by construction of a golf course. In 2002 she and Charles were founding members of Shoals Environmental Alliance, Edna authoring that group’s charter and by-laws.
As both her mother and her aunt Dot McDonald were, Edna was a gifted artist, known both for her excellent drawings and paintings, adept at both portraiture and landscapes, both impressionism and realism. She became skilled in the “Old Masters” technique of layering multiple coats of transparent paint on a canvas to create a rich glow and hue. Several professional artists in the Shoals have paintings by Edna in their collections.
Edna was a very giving person, volunteering her time to teach English classes to students hoping to earn their GED certificate. An animal lover, she also rescued many stray cats and dogs that wandered up and took in others that needed to be rehomed. She once even took in a nestling pigeon, whose mother had been killed in a building demolition.
Edna was preceded in death by her parents, Sarah and Edward Carter, her brother Oliver Carter, her sister Joan Carter, and her granddaughter Madeline Grace Boyett.
She is survived by husband, Charles Rose, sister Mary Young (husband Donny), son Israel Lee Liles, nieces Whitney Farris & Chia Nagai, nephews Kou Nagai, and Sho, Timothy & Nicky Carter, and sisters-in-law, Lisa Liles, Michiko Carter and Aiko Nagai.
The family wishes to express its heartfelt appreciation to the physicians, and especially the 2nd floor nurses and staff at Helen Keller Hospital, that took such good care of Edna during her final days there.
Memorials may be made to:
PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving)
The Food Bank of North Alabama
NAMI Shoals
Southern Environmental Law Center
Ways to Give – Southern Environmental Law Center
