George Robert Edwards, age 95, passed away from this life Sunday, July 21st, 2024 at his residence in Thompson’s Station, TN. George was born to the union of Charles Ervin Edwards and Johnnie Edwards on February 17th, 1929 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He was the 6th of 13 children born to this union. At some point thereafter, the family relocated to Vinita, Oklahoma, as the family continued to expand.
There were 10 boys in the family, and no bounds for the mischief they got into, including stealing watermelons from the neighbor’s patch, and getting caught. After getting a public education in Vinita, George began working for some local farmers, running equipment and thrashing wheat. He even hitchhiked to Washington state for work.
Around this time in George’s life, Uncle Sam was looking for strapping young men to induct into the service. This was during the Korean conflict, so George decided that he wanted to see the world from a ship and tried to enlist into the Navy. But they wouldn’t take him, his draft notice was in the mail from the Army. George completed his basic training at Fort Chaffee Arkansas, afterwards reporting to a base in Washington State.
After completing his required time in the Army, George struck out to seek his fortune. He headed to Michigan as there was plenty of work to be had. The Big 3 were selling cars as fast as they could to produce them, so George had no trouble finding work. He applied at General Motors one morning and reported for work that night. After working a few years in the body shop, George decided to try his hand in management. For a lot of years, he was a foreman in the water test area. I used to ask him if he ever shipped any “leakers” and he would just laugh and say, “maybe a few”.
After working in the plant for a while, George met Jean across the road from the plant, at the bar he frequented and she worked. She was taking care of herself and 3 boys from a previous marriage; James, John, and Rodney. George and Jean were united in marriage in 1954 and to that union Paul and Patty were born. Patty has very pleasant childhood memories of yearly fishing trips to Canada and a lot of winter sports including snowmobiling. George would work on the sleds all week getting them ready for the weekends.
George retired from General Motors with 32 years of service, after which he and Jean would winter in Florida and enjoyed several years of travelling and camping with friends. He was quite the wood worker and kept busy in the garage and basement building all kinds of beautiful things from wood. Although he was a Michigander most of his life, he relocated to TN in the fall of 2023 to live with Patty and Ron. He loved to laugh and also enjoyed playing golf.
Surviving George with precious memories are 2 brothers; Lucky and Harry, 2 stepsons; Rodney and Jim, daughter; Patty, grandchildren; Robin, Kaycie, Jeanna, Trey, and Shelly, along with numerous great grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, and a lot of friends and neighbors who thought the world of George. He will be missed.
