Note: The following article was written and published in our local newspaper 3 days after my father died. Our family did not know it was going to be featured in the "Local" section of the paper, nor did we realize it was even being written. Needless to say, it was a cherished gift to us, and I am honored and proud to share it with my friends and blog visitors.
C.B. Edwards remembered as actor, confidant, teacher and friend
Tom Mayer
Sun Journal
October 1, 2007 - 6:02PM
The roles C.B. Edwards played during almost 40 years in civic theater were varied, but the parts for which he will be most remembered are the roles he played in the lives of those who knew him.
Charles Bryan Edwards died Friday at Craven Regional Medical Center. He was 81.
A service for the New Bern native held Monday at Centenary United Methodist Church was as much about memory as memorial.
His careers included military service and longtime work at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point.
A life of theater first appealed to Edwards at a young age, said Peggy Hill Edwards Mitchell, to whom he was married for 22 years.
"He started in high school," Mitchell said. "That stage was his validation. When he got up there, he was something else.
"He was King Kong."
Mitchell is not alone in considering Edwards a royal member of local theater.
As a founding affiliate of New Bern Civic Theatre in 1968, Edwards used his talent on- and offstage in every facet of stagecraft.
From performing the title character in the civic theater's first production, "Charley's Aunt," Edwards would go on to construct, direct and mold troupes for both New Bern Civic Theatre and the more recent Rivertowne Repertory Players.
Many players remember Edwards as confidant, teacher and friend of family theater.
Mitchell recalls Edwards' fastidious devotion to wholesome productions — onstage and in personal example.
"He had a lot of humor, but not when it came to profanity," Mitchell said. Once, exasperated with Edwards, she told him, "I'll never ask you to do another damn thing."
Edwards' response was measured and deliberate.
"Two days later, he told me he wanted a divorce," Mitchell said. "I thought, 'What did I do?'"
What she had done, in Edwards' estimation, was cuss.
Mitchell laughs at such remembrances.
Theater friend Barbara Bauer remembered another of Edwards' aptitudes, which also led to unexpected outcomes.
"He had a good collection of firearms," Bauer said. "Whenever we needed firearms or fireworks we went to C.B. Once, we needed a charge in a cast-iron stove. Unknown to us, a girl testing the prop kept putting more and more powder in. C.B. added more. The whole stove blew apart. But the play went on with the actors picking the pieces up."
Such recollections are now as celebrated as Edwards himself, Bauer said.
"There are so many stories like that," she said. "He was actually a legend. If you went back through the programs, his name would be in every one of them."
Rivertowne veteran Lu Hoff doesn't need a program to prompt memories of Edwards' theatrical abilities.
Hoff remembers Edwards for his vitality in helping to restore New Bern Civic Theatre's home in historic New Bern and for his stage skill.
"He could play serious roles," Hoff said, "but he also had excellent comedic timing. He was just a natural."
Edwards was also a natural at sharing his love of theater.
"He's one of the people who got me into it," said Terry Daniels. "I was 13."
Daniels, today a general contractor, would go on to obtain a degree in theater from East Carolina University — largely as a result of Edwards' influence.
"He was always there to help out," Daniels said. "I always enjoyed being with him."
That enjoyment, said Mitchell, will be Edwards' legacy. "He was a great actor on stage, but he went beyond that," she said.
Edwards is survived by a large family, including his daughters Charlene Edwards Goes and Lynne Edwards Scott, and his companion of nearly a decade, Joyce Toler.
