Kln~S 0' ~- .

'.,

PASTOR PRESENTED CAK - "JUlt to Ihow you that we love you" were the words uled by W. W. Bowen (far right). a charter member of Mull'l Memorial Baptist Charch. as he presented the Rev. and Mrs. John Edwantr-nem with the keys to a 1973

station wagon. a gin from the church. Mull's Memor ..1is now the midst of a building program to accomodate the _n_1

community on Highway 18 north.

--', ....o.)u; V "'O${

Sanford Herald Shelby Star

"'§tatesvdie Record & Landmark Tarboro SOutherner Thomasville Times Tryon Bu lletin Washington Daily News Wilmington News Wilmington Star Wilmington Star-News Wil son D aily Times Winsto n -Salem Journal Winston -Salem Sent in el Winston-Salem_

J au rnal..sentinel

_/"'~c§ - ~

the ted from Scwtheutern

In the past decade, ounty native has ,f churches in Gastonia

ncaster, S.C.

,

-

oung Da.ughterl$ Death Convinces Minister He/s Like Everyone' Else

By MAX VEALE Your Home Newspaper

Raleigh Bureau

SHELBY Teressa Edwards,7, wearing her pink and white Easter dress, raced across the lawn of the parsonage towards the busy highway.

Almost late for Sunday School, she waited anxiously for three cars to pass, then ran onto the road. Before she got halfway across, she saw the approaching car and froze.

Three hours later the daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. John T. Edwards was dead.

"My first reaction was to ask, 'My God, wh~ me?'" said .

Edwards, pastor of Mull's Memorial Baptist Church.

.To her fsthCi, Te.ressa was "my blonde buddy" who sat on his lap while he had his morning coffee and followed him as he planted beans and tomatoes in the small garden beside their home.

Her death has been an agonizing experience .. for the family and for a man frequently called upon to console others in times of tragedy. .

"I find myself using words I've told many a person," said Edwards. "I quote passage of Job: 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.' Hurt Without Undentan

I

"At the same time, I don't clock on a Sunday afternoon really understand it. I know I that Teressa was born. She hurt througb-and. through, yet. died shortly after one 0' clock it can't be the end."

Edwards, 38, has been pastor for five years of the 200­member church which sits on the crest of a hill overlooking the rolling countryside some five miles north of Shelbr. Most of his members work an Cleveland County textile mills; few are well-to-do.

He is a fomer mill work~r Teressa, an automobile did. woo began his freshman year at Gardner-Webb College when he was 27 years old. He

Teressa was born in Lancaster September 5, 1965. The Edwards had been told ther couldn't have children of the ... own, and in 1958 adopted a daughter, Elizabeth, now a 14-year-old student at North Cleveland High School.

Mrs. Edwards had a difficult delivery. "We were afraid we'd lose them both. But I prayed and they both came through fine," Edwards

ned. Two Sunday Afternoons

"It was a little after one,' 4

on another Sunday afternoon."

Teressa's death has left Edwards bewildered but not embittered.

"I wanted to cry, _'God, why did you kill Teressa?' Butl am rational and know God didn't kill her.

"No, God didn't kill

He took care of her when it happened, and He took care of us in the time of our loss. "

Robarso'llvih' MiPlld Roxboro : Courlar-Times RutharfOrdton :

Rutherford Co. News Scotland Neck Commonwealth Slima: Johnstonian:Sun Shallotte : Brunswick Beacon Shelbv : Cleveland Tir'nes Siler City : Chatham News Smithfield Herald Snow Hill : Greene Co. Ledger

AUG 8 1973

--------------,r-------~

On Way To Churcll

Pastor's Daul" Killed Nea

By JIM MAXWELL Newl CarollnH Bur••u

The seven-year-old daughter of ·a Cleveland County Baptist minister died after sh struck by an automobile while libe was on her way to Easter morning services.

Teresa Lee I a n Edwards, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. John T. Edwards. died 9bout 1:15 p.m. yesterday at Char­lotte Memorial Hospital.

She was struck by a passing auto about three hours earlier, While she was crossing High­way 18 north of Shelby from the Edw9rds home to Mull's M e m 0 r i a I Baptist Church where her father is pastor.

"IT REALLY hit us hard," Mr. Edwards said today. He is in his fIfth year as pastor of the rural church.

"She had been to church for an Easter sunrise service, and

• .... \0. U ~ n une

Asheville Citizen Asheville Times Asheville Citizen-T imes Burlington : Times-News Charlotte News

-charlotte ObserVer Concord Tribune Dunn Record Durham Hera.ld D u rham Sun · Elizabeth Ci t y Advance Fayetteville Observer Gastonia Gazette Goldsboro: New~-Argus Greensboro Dally News Greensboro Record

APR 23 197j

went mother

back to

get .,. hair,"

her he

said.

Mr. Ed war d s said young Teresa had waited until sev­eral cars passed, then started across the road, apparently without making a Iinal check for cars coming in the opposite direction.

"We were to go on a picnic right after church," the pastor said. "She was excited about this and about Easter 9nd was just floating aiong. It was just a thoughtless moment."

He said Teresa was "pet~ned" of the road, and he had scbooled ber weD In exercising c aut ion abOut crossing tbe higbway. " When she was still small I took ber out and taugbt

Continued On Page 3A, Col. 1

her the proper way to cross the road," he said.

Mr. Edwards said she was in the second grade, and was "doing real fine."

The Edwards have two other children. another daughter. Elizabeth, and a son, DaVId.

The funeral for their seven­year·old will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Polk County where Edwards' fam ily lives.

The death o[ Teresa Ed­'wards was one of 23 traffic fatalities on roads in the Caro­linas during the weekend. The total of 11 killed in North Caro· lina was {ewer than half of the 22 predicted by the N.C. Stale Motor Club.

Four ·pedestrians w ere among the 13 killed on South Carolina roads during the holi· day period.

POLK BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, ANNUAL MINUTES, 1998

9n 9tecognifion

Rev. Painter began his ministI) some thirty plus years ago, with a Brush Arbor Revival. Out of these meetings. the Faith Temple Baptist Church was born.

Rev. Painter has been the only pastor there for some 32 years and recently retired as pastor on September 27. 1998. and is available for interim and supply work .

He and his wife Jean. live in Columbus. N.C. They have five children who are married. and ten grandchildrell .

l, Rev. Painter has been a faithful and . dedicated pastor during those years at Faith Temple CTlUrch and we appreciate his involvement in the Poik Baptist

Un. \\ iJlilllll Painte r Association.

Rev . Edwards began his ministry thirty-six years ago. He is a graduate of Gardner Webb University and South Eastern Seminary. Rev. Edwards has served churches in Gaston County, Cleveland County, Buncombe Count) . Lancaster, SC and Polk County. His retirement became effective on September 27, 1998, after ten years at The Emmanuel Baptist Church.

John and his wife Opal , will continue to reside at their home on Houston Road in Columbus, NC. They have two children who are married and three grandsons. Rev . Edwards will pc available for interim, supply work. revivals and conferences.

We are deeply grateful for the years Rev. Edwards has served in the ministry of the Polk Association and elsewhere.

Rev. John 1. bh'lIrds

26