Reva M. PRINCE EDWARDS

Enid News and Eagle Enid, Garfield Co., OK

09-02-2009

Submitted by: Jo Aguirre

Funeral service for Reva M. Edwards, 98, will be 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, at New Hope United Methodist Church. Rev. Sheila Combs-Francis and Rev. Gail Edmison will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home. Reva and her twin sister Neva, the granddaughters of Cherokee Strip pioneers, were born to Royal Prince and Gertrude Burchardt in Marshall, Okla., on Feb. 16, 1911.

On Sept. 17, 2009, at the age of 98 years, Reva went home to be with her Lord and Savior. Shortly after the twins' birth, their father was killed in a motorcycle crash and was buried on their first birthday. Their mother then married Louis Albert Lemmon and his work kept the family moving to many small Oklahoma towns, including Bristow, Altus, etc.

During the Great Depression they moved to Enid, and at age 16, Reva began her career working six days a week at Woolworth's for $9 a week. Through the years her career progressed to managing a fabric and linen store.

In 1933, she married Cliff Smith. They were divorced after 10 years. In 1955, she married Harold Edwards, a happy union for over 37 years until his death in 1992.

Reva is survived by one daughter, Shirley Frances Meech of Los Angeles, Calif.; two sons, Royal Cliff Smith and his wife Kveta of Guthrie, Okla., and James David Gauldin and wife Gail of Midwest City, Okla.; two grandchildren, Timothy Gauldin of Altus Air Force Base and Joanna Gauldin of San Antonio, Texas; two nieces, Gail Ann Edmison and husband Jim of Enid, and their three children Michael, Chris and James, and Charlene Harbour and her husband Steve of Altus, Okla., and their four children, Mary, Stephen, Jason and Joseph. She was preceded in death by one brother, Charles, and two sisters, Neva and Betty.