Arthur Kilgore Edwards, Jr. was born on June 17, 1924 in Oscar, Kentucky, a small community in Ballard County west of Paducah, Kentucky. His parents were Arthur Kilgore Thomas Sr. and Willie Mae Holman who were farmers. His father was known across Ballard County in those times for feeding the hungry and helping the needy.
Arthur was four years old when he lost his mother to tuberculosis which she had caught from caring from one of Arthur’s uncles. His father died when he was sixteen years old. His older sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and Robbie Lee took the place of his missing mother and dad. As a result, the siblings became very close which lasted over the years.
Arthur enlisted in the military in 1943 at the age of 19. He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was assigned as a military policeman. He was a sharpshooter and marksman, earning the Good Conduct Medal, and 6 Bronze Stars for his time in the European theatre. He landed in Normandy and was assigned to General Patton's division. He vividly remembered the General standing in his tank when the American troops rolled through the streets of Paris celebrating the freeing of the city. He left the service with an honorable discharge and returned briefly as an aviation cadet before receiving a second honorable discharge.
After his military service, Arthur reentered Western Kentucky College which he had attended before being inducted into the service. He then went on to attend the University of Kentucky, majoring in law. In July 1951 Arthur began his employment with Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation in Paducah, Kentucky. He started out in the plant protection department. Over the years Arthur received numerous promotions to positions of increasing responsibility including supervisory conference leader, training department supervisor, and supervisor of personnel and labor relations.
On June 6, 1953, Arthur and Juanita Imogene Westerman were married in the parsonage of the Broadway Baptist Church in Paducah, with the Rev. William H. Estes presiding. Imogene was also an employee of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. She was the daughter of Lawrence Calvin Westerman and Myrtle Merlene Barrow of Paducah. Both her parents were natives of Stewart County, Tennessee with her mother having roots in Trigg County, Kentucky. Arthur and Imogene settled in their home in Paducah and became the parents of two children, Mark Arthur Edwards born November 4, 1960 and Susan Kimberly Edwards, born October 26, 1963.
In 1995, Arthur was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He desperately wanted a cure for the disease and agreed to participate in research for the disease with Dr. Joel Perlmutter, a leading expert in the field in the neurology department at Washington University Center for Movement Disorders in St. Louis. He diligently participated in the research which included doing rigorous exercises. He went to St. Louis to be documented for the research until he was no longer able to do so.
Arthur died on June 22, 2011 in Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah ending his long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was buried in the Oscar Community Cemetery in Ballard County near where he grew up.
LINEAGE: (Arthur K. Edwards was the husband of Juanita Imogene Westerman. Juanita was the daughter of Lawrence C. and Myrtle Merlene Barrow Westerman, granddaughter of Horace D. and Lara Dell Cable Barrow, great-granddaughter of Thomas A. and Lena Rivers Thomas Cable and great-great-granddaughter of Albert Dillard and Mary Jonathan Vinson Thomas. Albert was the second child of Peyton and Sarah Ethridge Thomas. Peyton was the third child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas. Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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