Funeral services for Ronald Harold Edwards, 79, of Heflin will be Sunday, August 25, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. at Wise Chapel United Methodist Church with the Rev. Chris Cone and the Rev. Joe Gamble officiating. Burial will follow at Pine Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends Saturday, August 24, 2019, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the church. Mr. Edwards passed away Tuesday, August 20, 2019, in Carrollton, Ga.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years JoAnne Edwards, sons Bryan Robert Edwards (Tracy) and Bradley Harold Edwards, grandchildren Delaney Carson Edwards and Dax Coulter Edwards, nephews Jerry Lex Brown, Jr., and Landon Mitchell Brown and niece Julie Celeste Brown James.
He was preceded in death by his parents Hoyt Leroy and Pauline Harris Edwards.
Pallbearers will be Dax Edwards, Delaney Edwards, Ben Gilreath, Dakota Smith, Kim Daniel, Casey Daniel, Cody Daniel, Cheyenne Stavely, Lex Brown and Landon Brown. Friends will be honorary pallbearers.
Mr. Edwards was born in Sylacauga and reared in Tallapoosa, Ga., and the Lecta community of Cleburne County. A graduate of Ranburne High School and Alabama School of Trades in Gadsden, he was an employee of The Anniston Star for more than forty years.
Ronald was very active in his community, coaching youth baseball for 13 years and driving the Ranburne High School athletic and band buses to games for 18 years. He loved farming, and as soon as he got home from work, his favorite thing was to jump on a tractor and take off. Always ready to work, he spent one and a half years helping to build the house his family has lived in since August 1976. In later years, he enjoyed singing in his church choir. A devoted fan of gospel music, he went to his first singing at age 14, and over the years, if there was a gospel group performing within driving distance, the odds were good he would be there.
To those who knew him well, he was a loyal friend, always ready to help in any way he could. If the occasion presented itself, he was even known to go out of his way for rank strangers. This same commitment to service carried over to the work environment, where he would give his all to see that a job got done. A department supervisor once told him, “When I know you are here, I don’t worry about anything.” Ronald could also turn ordinary and routine circumstances into fun experiences with pranks, jokes and a contagious good humor that was certain to brighten the day of anyone in his presence.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Wise Chapel United Methodist Church Building Fund.
