Reuben Edwards, born September 16, 1927 in West Point,
VA, to Lewis and Claire Edwards - named after an uncle who
had passed away as a child. He was the oldest of three
children. His brother, Lewis precedes him in death, and one
sister, Linda Smith of West Point, VA.

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Reuben attended Beverly Allen High School up until the age
of 14. He went to work after school at Harry Horwitz Meat
Market. The owner said he would pay him 7 dollars a week,
but said if he did not go back to school he would pay him 14
dollars a week so Reuben dropped out of school.

Reuben was raised by his paternal grandmother after the
separation of his parents. His mother moved to Richmond,
VA where Reuben spent summers split between each parent.
Reuben's father remarried MS. Giselle and they adopted a
daughter Linda.

At the age of 15 Reuben's dad told him he would have to pay
for his keep, Rent would be 10 dollars a week and the rest of
the money he would have to buy his own clothes and inciden-
tals. So Reuben left the meat market and went to Newport
News, VA Shipyard, but in order to work there he had to be
18 yrs. old. Reuben put his age up to 18 yrs. old to get the job
and because he had done that, he had to register for the draft.
After being at the Shipyard for 30 days he was drafted.
Reuben completed basic training at Fort McClellan, Ala-
bama, before shipping out to Japan and specializing as a Fire
Fighter. Reuben worked his way up the ranks and classified
as a Sergeant. During his tour of duty, he sustained a traumat-
ic head injury along with severe damage to his ears. He was
honorably discharged in 1947.

When released from the Army he moved to Baltimore where
he met and married his 1 st wife, Evelyn Thompson. Evelyn
had a daughter, Alice Jean and Reuben raised her as his
own.

Reuben applied to every school that was available for Veterans.
He went to trade schools in the day. After that he worked in
Hutzlers, Hoschild Kohn and all of the stores up and down the
Howard street corridor as a night porter. He went home to sleep
and then went to work at Car Dealerships, Plymouth, Cadillac,
and Ford doing the floors.

Later in life Reuben and Evelyn divorced and he married Louise
J. Thompson (who preceded him in death) and raised her chil-
dren, 6 of them, as his own. With Reuben as our dad, we were
introduced to many things that we may not have had the chance
to otherwise experience.

To provide for his new family, Reuben drove Baltimore City
Street cars and was a MT A bus driver. He once drove for an egg
house and delivered eggs to bakeries. Later, he and Louise
created a trucking company driving his own tractor trailer. Rue-
ben developed a love for photography and passionately shot and
developed his own film. At one time, he owned a boat, as he
loved fishing. One of his other favorite pastimes was bowling.
He belonged to a league and bowled a great game.

Reuben believed in family and taking care and encouraging
others. He looked out for friends; helping them with their doctor
appts, moving, hauling, fixing up and doing oddjobs. Before his
illness took hold he was still actively taking care of his commu-
nity and traveled the highways and byways with his car flags
flapping in the wind. As you drove around the city you might
have just seen him go by.

This is just a snapshot of this man's life you see before you. He
believed in God and that he had been blessed in his life. His
favorite scriptures were, Psalm 23, and St John 15: 12- "This is
my commandment, that they love one another, as I have loved
you. (KJV)."

He leaves to mourn his children Francine Bethea, Yvonne Gross
(Peter), Frederick Thompson II (Renee), Stefan Thompson (An-
gel), Kirk Thompson, and Brock Thompson (Angie) and
numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews,
cousins and friends.