Catherine Edwards
Catherine Edwards Obituary
Catherine Huneycutt Edwards, 77, passed away peacefully at her home in Marshville, North Carolina, on September 4, 2021. The youngest child of Andrew Jackson ("Jack") Huneycutt and Emma Kennedy Huneycutt, she was born on February 18, 1944, in Albemarle, N.C. She enjoyed an idyllic childhood playing basketball with her sister and father, preparing meals with her mother, roller skating, baton twirling, and traveling to the mountains and coastline of North Carolina for family vacations. She attended Oakboro High School, where she excelled in mathematics and played on the varsity basketball team.
Catherine married her high school sweetheart, John Ellis Edwards, of Marshville, N.C., and shortly thereafter began working in the banking industry. After several years as a top lending manager in the region, she was named Vice President of Southeastern Savings and Loan in Charlotte, N.C. She always put her family first and successfully balanced the demands of her career while raising two children.
In 1982, Catherine and John co-founded WeCare, a consumer product company that quickly grew to a successful international corporation. One of their career highlights was participating in a delegation of business owners and six U.S. Governors on a trade mission to Asia. The mission included business meetings with leading corporations in Japan and China, trade talks with Chinese government officials, and investment conferences in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
After serving as President of WeCare for many years, Catherine and John moved to Dallas, Texas, where they started another consumer product company before moving to Diamond Bar, California, and working with Jeunique, International as Vice Presidents of Sales. During their tenure with Jeunique, they enjoyed training sales teams in more than a dozen countries before their retirement.
Catherine, known as "Nana" by her beloved grandchildren, will be remembered for her kind and humble spirit, exceptional home cooking, and love of family. Raised in the Baptist tradition, she had a strong faith and attended many churches and bible study groups in each city she lived in over the years. She remained a member of Big Lick Baptist Church in Oakboro since her childhood.
Catherine was preceded in death by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Huneycutt, and her brother, John Christopher Huneycutt. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, John Ellis Edwards, her sister, Sylvia Turner of Oakboro, N.C., her daughter, Elisa Townsend (Jack) of Suwanee, GA, her son, John Edwards, Jr. of Locust, N.C., and her five grandchildren: Lauren Townsend, Hunter Townsend, Catherine Townsend, John Ellis Edwards, III ("Tripp"), Lillian Edwards, and numerous, much-loved nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, at Big Lick Baptist Church in Oakboro. Interment service will follow in the Oakboro Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 10:30-11:00, prior to the service. The family requests donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in lieu of flowers.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Catherine Edwards, please visit our floral store.
