Virginia Edwards

Virginia Jones Edwards, beloved mother and grandmother, passed away at her residence on Monday, April 3, 2017. Daughter of Frederick Jones and Catherine (Clementine) Schmitz Jones, Virginia grew up in Oradell, NJ and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School before attending New Jersey Teacher’s College and Columbia University. She enlisted in the U.S. Marines during World War II and served on Parris Island, where she met and married her husband, the late Reverend John Vedder Edwards.

A life-long learner, Virginia completed a B.A. in English at Tusculum College in Tennessee and studied for her M.A. in Old Testament History at Oberlin College. She later graduated with an M.A. in English from Gannon University and pursued a Ph.D. in English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Virginia was a dedicated teacher and taught English and mathematics at Erie Business Center for thirty years. She also taught at Gannon University, Penn State Behrend College, Villa Maria College and Mercyhurst College.

As a minister’s wife for many years, Virginia served churches in Ohio, the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and Sarah Hearn Memorial Presbyterian Church in Erie. She and her family exchanged churches for a summer with a minister’s family in Scotland in 1972. She was active in the Presbyterian Women’s Association and as a Christian educator. More recently, Virginia was a member of Wayside Presbyterian Church and a member of Elizabeth Circle there.
Virginia was a great reader and writer; she loved to travel and visited England, Scotland, Spain and France. Among her favorite experiences were dining at the White House as a guest of the Eisenhowers, and seeing the Alhambra in person. Most important, Virginia created a welcoming home for friends and family.

Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, the Reverend Doctor John Vedder Edwards, her sister Dorothy Jones Hillenius, and a grandson, Jesse Edwards-Borowicz.
Virginia was the loving mother of John Vedder Edwards, Jr., and his partner Diana Hume George, Elizabeth Edwards Steen and husband William Steen, Ginnie Burger and husband Jeffrey and Alice Edwards and husband James Borowicz. She is further survived by grandchildren, Diehl Edwards, Tiffany Steinmetz, Andrew Steinmetz, Sarah Steen, and Maia Edwards-Borowicz.

Friends are invited to call upon the family at the Burton Westlake Funeral Home, 3801 West 26th Street at Powell Ave., on Wednesday, April 5th from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. and are invited to services at Wayside Presbyterian Church, 1208 Asbury Rd., Erie, PA 16505 Thursday, April 6th at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Erie Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Jesse Edwards-Borowicz Scholarship Fund at Mercyhurst Preparatory School, 536 East Grandview Blvd., Erie PA 16504.