Lahoma Dean Edwards

Lahoma Dean Edwards, 96, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, died quietly on October 14, 2023 at Methodist Village Nursing Home after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease. Two of her four sons were in attendance bedside as she went to be with her Savior. Lahoma was born at home on January 6,1927 in Amity, Arkansas to the Rev. Henry Grady Milam and his wife, Jessie Manila Scruggs Milam. Her grandmother, Neely Carpentier, a Cherokee midwife and tribal healer assisted in the delivery. Lahoma was the fourth of what was to be six Milam children and out-lived all of her siblings.

Lahoma graduated from Fort Smith High School and went on to attend college at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, later transferring to Fort Smith Junior College and eventually the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. There she lived in the 4-H house and played on the tennis team, majoring in Home Economics. While a student at Fort Smith Junior College, she worked as the night time switchboard operator for Bell Telephone in Barling, Arkansas near Camp Chaffee Army Base. In between studying her texts in those quiet hours, she often took calls from homesick soldiers preparing to leave for battle in WW2 who simply needed the kind voice of reassurance on the other end of the line. The junior college was also where she met her future husband, Navy veteran Gerald Edwards, who played on the Lion’s basketball team. They married on June 15, 1947 at Immanuel Baptist Church and settled in Fort Smith to take over his father's construction business. They were married for 68 years before his passing in 2015.

Lahoma's life was a testimony to hard work, community service and Christian faith in action. A loving mother who always focused on the proper care of her five children and spouse, while somehow managing to grow intellectually and volunteer wherever, whenever needed. She taught herself how to draw house plans for the family business, as well as for five other local builders, eventually becoming a certified kitchen designer and opening her own shop selling high-end cabinetry. As a member of the Fort Smith Homebuilders' Auxiliary, she helped provide yearly scholarships for University of Arkansas architecture students. Lahoma was a founding board member of the Fort Smith Art Center as well as the Fort Smith Boys' Shelter, helping to oversee the construction of the latter. Her home was always open for garden club meetings and dinner parties. As Executive Director of the Mount Magazine Girl Scout Council, Lahoma oversaw improvements to the day camp facilities at Kelley Cabin and in Burnham Woods, following with the development and construction of Camp Cahinnio in Booneville, Arkansas. Edwards Construction Company built the facilities at cost and provided much of the building materials free of charge. Her love of Christ always evidenced in her daily walk of faith. A pro-life proponent, she felt led to help organize the Madonna Ministry which provided pregnancy counseling along with a free layette and baby equipment to women as an alternative to abortion. Lahoma served as Women’s Missionary Union president at First Baptist Church and was also an excellent Bible teacher for many years. She was a perpetual student of Scripture, leaving behind many handwritten lessons and copious notes.

Anyone that knew Lahoma, knew that she lived with a song of joy in her heart, always expressed as she performed her daily tasks. In the final stages of Alzheimer's, she astonished the family with a song of thanksgiving in perfect Cherokee most likely learned from the grandmother present at her birth and living with the family. Cherokee nurses and visitors at Methodist assured all family that Lahoma was at peace in a reality very far removed from the present, in attendance at a "stomp dance" which celebrates a new day, womanhood, the harvest (including children born) and the Heavenly Father who created all these blessings. As she beautifully sang, she would reach for the hands of those nearby and kiss them tenderly. What a gift in parting this world for the next eternal one!

Lahoma was preceded in death by her husband, Ira Gerald Edwards, brothers Dorsey, Grady and the Rev. Bill Milam, along with sisters Vida Lee Frazier, Jane Robinson and son in laws, Rodney Cook and Allen Graham. She is survived by one sister in law, June Milam. She is survived by a daughter, Cynthia Cook Graham of Houston, Texas, and sons, David Edwards and wife Ann, Jim Edwards and wife Gayla, both of Fort Smith, Dr. Gary Edwards of Little Rock, John Edwards and wife Teri of Cypress, Texas. Her twelve grandchildren, Brent and Gregory Cook (Fort Smith), Susan Conaway (Provo, UT), Leah England (Bluffton, SC), Julie Edwards (Charleston, SC), Skylar Edwards (Washington, DC), Kayley Edwards (Tenerife, Spain), Stephanie Moore (Little Rock), Grant Edwards (Jackson, TN), Frazier Edwards (Little Rock), Dr. Megan Edwards (Houston, TX) and Carter Edwards (San Antonio TX). She leaves ten great-grandchildren, Elsa Conaway, Thomas and Jane England, Lucas, Nolan, Everett and Whitney Moore, Charlotte and James Edwards, and the youngest, Hamp Edwards.

Visitation will be at Edwards Funeral Home, 201 N. 12th, Thursday 10//19/23 from 5:00 pm till 7:00 pm. Burial will be at Fort Smith National Cemetery, 522 Garland Avenue on Friday 10/20/23 at 10:00 am. Services will be conducted at Fort Smith First Baptist Church, 1400 Grand Avenue on Friday 10/20/23 at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, you may make a memorial contribution to The Martha Abee Hughes Nursing Scholarship, UAFS Attn: Foundation Giving, PO Box 3649 Fort Smith, AR 73913, or The Mount Magazine Girl Scouts Council, 5705 Gordon Lane, Fort Smith, AR 72903.