Harvey Ashley Edwards, Jr.

After a long and productive life, Harvey Ashley Edwards, Jr. died peacefully at his home on August 29th, 2025. He was 98 years old. His life will be remembered and celebrated at Calvary Church of Tuscaloosa, Tuesday, September 2nd, services beginning at 11:30. Harvey Edwards, IV will officiate. Calvary will host a reception immediately after, followed by a 2:30 graveside service at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park. Grandsons Clay Hudson, Richard Coogan, IV, David Edwards, William Edwards, Wiley Edwards, Charles Edwards, and Joseph Edwards will serve as pallbearers.

Harvey was preceded in death by his beloved first wife Dorothy Rhodes Edwards, brother Charles Williams Edwards, mother Charlie Stewart Edwards, and father Harvey Ashley Edwards, Sr. He is survived by his beloved second wife Jo Del Burns Edwards, daughters Jean Edwards Minges (Eddy) and Judith Edwards Coogan (Richard), sons Harvey Ashley Edwards, III (Debbie) and William Scott Edwards (Fleta), 14 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, who all knew him as “Papaw.”

Harvey was born on January 15, 1927, in Tuscaloosa, his home for life. His early childhood was concurrent with the lean years of the Great Depression, from which he emerged tremendously resourceful and industrious. He met the Lord at an early age and joined the body of believers at Calvary Baptist Church, working energetically and worshipping with that same fellowship for all his years. He was a Gideon, a Life Deacon, a Trustee, and faithfully taught a men’s Sunday School class for over forty years, teaching himself to read Greek so that he could more accurately understand and explicate the Scriptures. He dedicated himself to countless other ministry and leadership opportunities within the fellowship he loved, finding particular satisfaction in a quiet ministry of visiting the hospitalized and home-bound members of Calvary.

Harvey learned to love the outdoors as a boy, and his lifetime hobby of fishing and especially hunting provided experiences, both thrilling and humorous, sufficient to fill a book. He loved his pet dogs, upon whom he poured great affection. As a young teenager, he developed considerable mechanical skills fixing up old cars, and applied these to an after-school job, riding miles on his bicycle each day to the airport. There he assisted in the maintenance of airplanes in exchange for flying lessons. Upon reaching military age during WW II, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps and was sent to Denver for training as a B-29 pilot, with expectations for deployment in the Pacific theater. But as the war neared its end, he was diverted to Europe as a member of the ground forces occupying defeated Germany. He served there for one year, experiencing hardship, risk, and food shortages, and arrived back in the U.S. a sergeant, 30 pounds lighter than when he had left.

Upon his return, Harvey attended the University of Alabama, gaining a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. While still a student, he founded Tuscaloosa Building and Land, still in business today, and began building houses and dealing in real estate. He experienced tragedy at age 20 in the loss of his only sibling, Charles, to a motor vehicle accident. He experienced joy a couple of years later in his marriage to his first love Dottie. Theirs was a loving and devoted partnership, blessed by deep happiness and contentment, and lasting 46 years until she went to be with the Lord. Their union produced four children, united in their love for each other and for their parents.

During the middle years of his life, Harvey grew his business, venturing into commercial as well as residential construction, and was widely appreciated for both his scrupulous ethics as well as his commitment to exacting quality standards. He also reserved time for voluntary civic duties too numerous to list. A sampling would include: service on the Tuscaloosa Zoning and Planning Commissions; numerous offices in the Tuscaloosa and Alabama Boards of Realtors; Presidencies of the both the Tuscaloosa and Alabama Home Builders Associations; numerous offices within the National Association of Home Builders, including National Vice-President and Life Director; Presidency of the Tuscaloosa High School PTA; Board of Directors of Alabama Baptist Retirement Center; and Presidency of the Tuscaloosa Civitans Club. In recognition of these and many other civic contributions, he was named the 1982 Tuscaloosa Citizen of the Year.

Following the loss of Dottie in 1995, Harvey was fortunate after a time to be introduced to Jo Del Burns. She, too, had suffered the loss of her first spouse, Buck Burns, and theirs had also been a very loving and devoted marriage. In His kindness and care, the Lord brought them together and bestowed upon them the tremendous blessing of the loving companionship of marriage a second time, lasting 29 years until Harvey’s death. They were very well-matched, and each grew personally in love and tenderness, molded by the Spirit in new ways as they adapted and cared for each other. As his strength waned over his last years, and his dependency on others became inevitable, he accepted it with grace, and the conscientious love and respect showered upon him by Jo Del was unmatched, all the way to the very end. In this, he was indeed blessed, as was she as well.

Harvey would be judged by any human standard as a virtuous man, who leaves an enduring legacy, worthy of respect and even emulation. His departure makes us sad and leaves a hole, and we will miss him dearly. But he had no illusions as to the source of any righteousness that might accrue to his eternal credit. In his reading of Scripture, righteousness is not a reward for works. Rather, he believed that righteousness is exclusively received as a gift of God, by grace, through faith in Jesus. He believed that, he trusted in Christ, and he has now been welcomed into the full and warm and holy presence of God clothed entirely in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. No more suffering, no more pain, only joy. We who loved him also rejoice.

Harvey had many close friends and mentors during his 98 year life, but very few of his peers have survived him. The family is deeply grateful for all those from younger generations who have stepped forward in kindness to befriend and support him in his later years. We especially would like to thank his physician, Dr. Ross Vaughn, nurse Leigh Ellen Robinson, and loving caregivers Frenshei Bonner, Wayne Jones, Kay Lee, Bettie Stinson, Lillian James, and Andrew Croom for their compassionate and expert service on behalf of our loved one.