Natalie Oberhaus Edwards, of Vero Beach, passed away on March 16, 2014, after a valiant 28-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
She is survived by husband Jay; children Gwyn (Leonard) Dieterle, Dr. Brian (Laurie) Edwards, Christine (John Cutcher) Edwards; grandchildren Meghan, Madeleine and Jay Dieterle, Natalie, Christopher and Alisa Cutcher, and Kresta Venning; and her brother, A. Edward Oberhaus.
She was preceded in death by her son Bruce, who died from ALS in 2004.
Edwards was the beloved wife of 62 years of Dr. Jay Edwards, and mother to four children who adored her. She and her husband moved to Vero Beach in 1998 after enjoying much of their married life in Wethersfield, Conn.
Throughout their life together, Edwards and her husband enjoyed traveling in the US and abroad, playing golf with their friends and family, and appreciating their expanding family.
She enjoyed cooking, often whipping up extravagant dishes from the James Beard cookbook, playing bridge, reading, and doing exquisite needlework. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she also tried her hand at woodcarving and basketmaking.
Edwards was an accomplished golfer at Wethersfield Country Club, and instilled a love of golf in her children. Many Sunday dinners were spent in front of the television, rooting her oldest son Bruce, a professional PGA Tour caddy, and Tom Watson on to victory.
She graduated from the Mount St. Joseph Academy in West Hartford, Conn., and from the School of Dental Hygiene at the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her future husband.
She worked as a dental hygienist in Connecticut and then as her husband’s office manager for years. However, her greatest joy was being a supportive and loving wife, a stay-at-home mom, Nana to seven grandchildren, and friend to countless.
A celebration of her life will be held on May 10, at the Community Church of Vero Beach. Friends of Natalie are encouraged to take their mothers or good friends to lunch and enjoy their time together in her memory. Donations can be made to either the Bruce Edwards Foundation for ALS Research, Vivian Thompson, Treasurer, P.O. Box 37, Crownsville, MD 21032, www.BruceEdwardsFoundation.org, (410) 923-0506, or the National Parkinson Foundation, 200 SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131, www.parkinson.org, (800) 473-4636.
