Dr. James H. Edwards

He was born in Raleigh on February 18, 1922 and was preceded in death by his parents, A.J. and Mamie Edwards and by a brother, A.J. Jr.

Jim graduated from Broughton High School, 1940, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for three years, and was accepted at the Medical College of Virginia for dentistry. He graduated first in his class and was inducted into Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the highest honor in dentistry. After graduation, the Medical College Dental School asked him to teach in the Crown and Bridge Department, his favorite. After one year there he realized that he should move on with his dental career. For 38 years, he practiced dentistry in Raleigh with only a two-year stint in the Air Force in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Jim loved dentistry and loved his patients. Through the years they became like one big extended family. Years later, he became a Fellow in the American College of Dentistry. He was always active in the North Carolina 4th District Dental Society, including being president and serving on many committees and offices. Several times he and his family went on N.C. Dental Society Study Trips abroad and once to Europe to attend the American Dental Association International Meeting in Rome.

Jim was a singer and a musician and never stopped singing until the age of 90.

Church, family, friends, dentistry, music, singing, hunting, gardening, wood-working, building cabinets and furniture and the family's first beach home, always repairing and fixing things, re-modeling, traveling around the world, and a joy to be part of this world made for a happy and beautiful life. As friends say, "Everybody loves Jim."

He is survived by his wife, Jean; his son, John of Lake Royale; his daughter, Julie Grice and her husband, Bill Grice; and two grandsons, Brandon and Steven Grice from Hickory, North Carolina.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church on Fairview Road on Saturday, September 22 with a reception following the 2:00 p.m. funeral. Private family interment will be held at Oakwood Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to Hospice of Wake County, 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, N.C. 27607 or Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, 2209 Fairview Road, Raleigh, N.C. 27608 or Springmoor Endowment Fund, Inc, 1500 Sawmill Rd., Raleigh, N.C. 27615.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St. Raleigh.