Hugh Byron Edmonds was born on June 29, 1946 in St. Petersburg, FL to Hubert Brown Edmonds (Johnson City, TN) and Ruth Jones Edmonds (Americus, GA) and passed away June 2, 2018 in Tampa, FL. He has been a resident of Miami, FL, due to a health issue he has lived in Tampa since January of 2018 in order to be near his daughters along with wife Barbara.
He is preceded in death by his wife Patricia Ann Hamlin Edmonds, mother of his three daughters, and he is survived by his wife of 28 years, Barbara Ann Baxley Edmonds of Miami, FL; daughters Allison Ruth Edmonds Poff (Michael) of Tampa, Megan Elizabeth Edmonds-Pillai, (Manoj) of Tampa; Joyce Katherine Edmonds-Mandell (Ken) of Arlington, MA; grandsons Alexander Nikhil, Zachary Jayan, and Andrew Neelan Pillai, granddaughter, Jessica Marie Edmonds of Tallahassee, FL, and grandsons Maxwell David and Benjamin Hamlin Mandell.
Hugh grew up in Louisville, KY, Jacksonville and Tallahassee, FL where he spent most of his youth raised by his mother Ruth, his aunt Helen Jones, and grandparents Lillie Belle and Mercer Jones.
Hugh attended Leon High School in Tallahassee, FL served in the ROTC at Florida State University and was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. After college he advanced to Captain in the USAF, served in the Vietnam War (Pleiku Air Base). Upon returning from Vietnam he and his family lived in Tucson, AZ near the Davis-Monthan Airforce Base. After leaving the Air Force Hugh worked for Roadway trucking and then had a career with United Parcel Service as a Regional executive manager of facilities and plant operations in Central and South Florida and in the Metro Detroit area.
Hugh has also lived in Houston, TX, Winston Salem, NC, Orlando, Deerfield Beach and Hollywood, FL, Bloomfield Township, MI, Cooper City and then Miami, FL. Hugh and Barbara have enjoyed traveling between their properties in Key West, FL and Boone, NC.
Hugh was a man of ideas and innovation; he learned to work with his hands from his grandmother Lillie Belle. His entire life he has renovated homes, built and crafted many beautiful things, he always wanted to maintain and make the environment around him better. He constructed neon light, stained glass, and needlepoint artwork; he landscaped and gardened. He enjoyed fishing, motorcycling and cars (was a member of the American Automobile Association), he enjoyed going to the gun range for target practice. He was a FSU and Miami football fan and enjoyed watching football, baseball and basketball. He has had a lifelong love of pets; he maintained lovely eclectic angelfish aquariums, he had a Scarlett macaw (Pepper), and many cats and dogs throughout his life. His current pets Buddy and Crissy will miss him.
Hugh was raised Baptist and had an understanding of the love of Jesus Christ.
A viewing will be held at the Gonzalez Funeral Home in Tampa on Saturday June 9th prior to the memorial service at 4pm. His final place of repose will be the Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg, FL. A military honors service will be held on Friday June 29, 2018 at 1:30pm.
His family and friends will miss him dearly.
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