Norma Gray Edwards
Norma Gray Edwards
Norma Gray Edwards, 79, passed away March 20, 2025, surrounded by family and friends.
She was born Feb. 22, 1946 near Samantha to Linn and Mabel (Freeze) Gray.
Her parents raised her and her sisters, Doris (Zach) Dehart and Shirley (Jim) Unger on farms in the Leesburg and Samantha areas. She graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1964, where she was active in the band. Having been raised in the Samantha Friends Church, she accepted Christ as a teenager and was an active member and church pianist.
She married Richard Edwards on Sept. 30, 1966.
Music was a very important part of her life and her family enjoyed singing for God in churches locally and at distant churches. She made many friends over the years while working at the Hillsboro Dry-Goods Store, Hillsboro’s Robert Shaw, Foster’s Clothing Store in Hillsboro, and finally retiring from Candle-lite in Leesburg.
She is survived by husband, Richard Edwards; daughters, Renita Edwards and Rhonda (Bill) Wise; a sister, Doris Gray Dehart; several nieces and nephews; friends, Dean and Jane Greene and Jim and Connie Davis; as well as Lorrie Russell and family.
She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Shirley; brothers-in-law, Jim Unger and Zach Dehart; and nephew Bruce Dehart.
Visitation will be 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, March 28 at the Samantha Friends Church, 8074 Fall Creek Road, Leesburg, when a funeral service will begin. Burial will follow in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, online at www.stjude.org/donate or by mail to 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105, or to the Leesburg Friends Meeting House Fund, c/o The Leesburg Friends Church, P.O. Box 393, Leesburg, OH 45135.
The Turner Funeral Home in Leesburg is serving the family. To leave an online condolence, visit www.turnerfuneralhomes.cc.