I was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., on Sept. 9, 1931, the son of Alfred Edwards and Mabel Watson. I was the third of four kids. I graduated High School in 1950. Right after school I enlisted in the Navy for four years. I went home from boot camp and Electrician’s Mate School and married Mary Helen Bisson, my high school sweetheart. Both of us 19years old!! I was raised Presbyterian and became an Episcopalian when we were married. I attended Michigan Tech and attained a degree in electrical engineering.
After college we moved to Seattle, Wash., to work for Boeing Airplane Co. I worked there one year and was hired by Western Electric Co. I worked on maintaining and testing new radars being constructed in Michigan and Canada. About 1966 we moved to Park Forest, Ill., to work for ATT Long Lines in Chicago. We built a new house in Crete, Ill., and moved there until we moved to N.C. I retired from ATT in 1990.
I worked one year at a Lumber Co in Crete, Ill., delivering lumber and assorted other items. I saw an ad in the paper for Flour-Daniels looking for engineers and was hired on for five years building a new 911 center in Chicago.
We had four children, James Jr., Janice, David and Mary Susan. Janice and Mary Susan live here in Wilmington.
We moved to Wilmington 1n 1996. We joined St. Paul’s without looking around because my daughter Janice and her husband went here. Shortly after attending I joined the “Thursday Morning Crew” now known as GNP. We loved St. Paul’s because it was so welcoming. Sorry to say, Mary died in 2019. I’m still going to church and helping the GNP.