A rare thing, it is, for someone to live a full century, with the faculties necessary to tell the tale.
And yet, Trigg County’s Huel Earley Thomas Edwards — a proud Hopkinsville High School graduate — can easily point to a three-digit golden balloon on her Barkley Plantation wall, use every crease in her face to smile, and reminisce about the way things were.
It was August 30 when she turned 100, and — taking oxygen to avoid heart failure — she’s admittedly not certain how much longer she has.
Truth be told, no one is. But her warm eyes still bring confidence. And she’s seen a thing or two through the passage of time.
Born in the Roaring ’20s, she with seven sisters and no brothers from parents Hugh Thomas and Georgia Boyd bore the full brunt of the Great Depression and World War II, and — of course — the ensuing chapters of today’s history books.
Tobacco farmers, they were, eventually shifting into Christian County with only half of the children born.
Thomas laughed, noting that while they had responsibilities like tending the garden and setting tobacco — west Kentucky’s rite of passage — they weren’t farm hands like their cousins. Their swimming pool in those sweaty summers was Sinking Fork Creek. And her dad would’ve had a hard time if any of the girls smoked what they grew.
(She swears none of them did.)
In her younger years, the family used a horse and buggy to travel short distances, and later upgraded to an ugly cracker-box Buick that “didn’t deserve a place in the garage.”
And, at times, walking might’ve been easier.
As her and the sisters aged, Edwards said they first moved in with their grandmother — who had come to Christian County to live in an old doctor’s office next to Newstead’s three-year secondary school.
A solid bookkeeper after high school graduation, Edwards said she had a job waiting for her in the Christian County Agriculture Adjustment Agency — something akin to today’s Kentucky Farm Bureau.
She was living with a cousin on Ninth Street near the water tank, making the trek to work by foot.
She would pivot back to Cadiz and the Trigg County Farmers Bank in 1946, working there into the early 1950’s.
And it’s here, she beamed, where she first met John Thomas Edwards. Nicknamed “Toppy,” he was a military man who had returned from the European theater to Cadiz, in order to continue operating his popular local service station.
Their engagement was announced Thursday, November 7, 1946, and a month later, the two were wed — a union that would last more than five decades.
The two dropped off their in-laws, before settling into a quiet Indianapolis honeymoon.
Fast-forward to now, and she spends most days thinking of the pleasant times. A long and fruitful marriage. The birth of two sons, John Jr. and Jeffrey. The birth of a granddaughter, Ellen. The birth of a great-grandson, Ethan. A hard, but fun, childhood.
She can snack on her favorite lunch: a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. And more recently, she can enjoy a book of personal newspaper clippings crafted by Martha Maxfield — a gift for her centenary celebration.
Two nieces visit with her frequently, as well, and a number of sitters and caretakers are often by her side.
The flip of 100 years, however, is watching those go before her: a husband, both sons, all of her sisters, and other loved ones.
A family book, one about their early lives in west Kentucky, is currently in the works. She said she hopes it’s done, before she, too, “kicks the bucket.”
