Dave Edwards

David William “Dave” Edwards passed away on June 22, 2022. He was born in Ft. Lee, Virginia on June 25, 1959, to Ingrid R. Edwards and William L. Edwards. His father was in the Army and as a child Dave spent time in Germany, his mother’s home country, but he always considered himself to be “from” the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland. He graduated from Arundel High School in Gambrills, MD, near Odenton. He remained obsessed with Maryland blue crabs his whole life!

Shortly after high school graduation, he enlisted in the US Coast Guard at 17. He was successful and moved through the enlisted ranks rapidly, from E1 to E6 in four short years. Working as an Aviation Electrician and Flight Mechanic on the Sikorsky HH-3F, he began his love of aviation in New Orleans. While stationed there in 1980 he participated in the rescue of Cuban asylum seekers during the Muriel Boatlift.

Anyone that knows Dave, though, knew he wanted to be in charge, so he set his sights on becoming one of the guys in the front of the aircraft. With that goal in mind, Dave left the Coast Guard to attend the University of West Florida in Pensacola where he met and married his wife, Sheila.

After graduating from UWF, he joined the Army—they guaranteed him flight school in their Warrant Officer program through Ft. Rucker, AL. During his Army service, Dave was promoted through WO1 and WO2, and he flew Cobras on many missions including the US invasion of Panama to capture Manuel Noriega and patrolling the DMZ in South Korea.

In 1991 Dave transferred to the Coast Guard, his first love, via direct commission as an Ensign to become an HH-65 Dolphin pilot. He wanted to change his life’s mission to saving lives, and he was exceptional at it.

His first assignment was to Miami one of the busiest districts for the Coast Guard and Dave loved every minute of it. There he was introduced to what would be a long career battle with hurricanes. Starting with Hurricane Andrew, the worst hurricane to hit Florida at the time, which devastated south Florida. After Andrew, he flew search and rescue for weeks until the job was done. Also, while in Miami, Dave and Sheila welcomed their two sons, Garrett and Collin, to the world and Dave could not have been happier.

Dave enjoyed a busy and successful career in the Coast Guard saving hundreds of lives, but always stayed on the move. After Miami, he was stationed in Savannah, GA, Traverse City, MI, Humboldt Bay, CA, and Mobile, AL. In Mobile after Hurricane Katrina devastated lower Louisiana, he was on scene even before the winds died down and played a crucial role in the rescue efforts saving hundreds of lives.

After Mobile it was off to Washington, DC, then Houston, TX. As the Executive Officer of Air Station Houston once again he was part of the team coordinating rescue efforts after Hurricane Ike destroyed areas around Galveston Bay. He welcomed President George W. Bush and his advising team to the Air Station during the rescue/relief efforts and continued to tell stories about it to anyone who would listen.

After another tour in Washington, DC, he ended his career in New Orleans back where he started. His last assignment was Chief of Incident Management for Coast Guard District 8 Command Center. In this position he led and coordinated response to search and rescue, marine environmental incidents, and casualties covering a substantial portion of the southeast and the entire Mississippi River watershed. He was a busy man.

Dave was promoted all the way to Captain and retired in 2014. That was some career…E1 to O6, and he hit almost all the ranks in between. After dropping the collective for the last time Dave had accumulated almost 5000 hours of flight time at the controls.

Being anglers Dave, Sheila, Garrett, and Collin spent a lot of time on the water. Dave loved watching his boys play sports, the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Vikings, and NASCAR. As a family we watched countless movies together and still use movie lines in our conversation daily. Dave’s favorite was Jaws and “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”. We will miss him and treasure those memories forever!

Dave was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Wade Edwards. He is survived by his wife Sheila Edwards, his son Garrett Edwards, his son Collin Edwards, and Collin’s wife Tyler Edwards.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.BayviewFisher-PouChapel.com for the Edwards family.