Lynda Edmondson's Obituary
Lynda Cole Edmondson drew her last breath in the Healthcare unit of The Pines at Davidson. She took her first one in Houston, Texas, the second daughter of N. Shelby Cole and Ura (Peggy) Thornton Cole. The family lived in Harlingen, Texas and southern Louisiana for a few years and then settled on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. She graduated Mississippi College with a major in English and earned a master’s degree in English at UNC-CH. Over the years she has worked as secretary for a physician at UNC-CH’s hospital (father of renowned singer James Taylor); an English teacher for two years at an international school in Quito, Ecuador and for a few years at a small college in Delaware; and an administrator in CCRCs and nursing homes in Texas and North Carolina.
A move from Delaware to Texas with first husband and three young sons was a disruption that eventuated in divorce and in Lynda’s decision to earn a master’s degree in gerontology at North Texas University. For almost a decade she worked at Golden Acres Jewish Home in Garland. Lynda’s return to North Carolina occurred when a friend from college days and from life in the Duke-UNC area found himself once again a bachelor. Christmas cards had kept Lynda and Earl in touch ever since grad-school days, when Earl played with Lynda’s first two boys still in their onesies, and when Lynda and husband (a college classmate of Earl’s) attended Earl’s wedding in Durham.
Lynda returned to North Carolina, and Earl and she married in July 1989. For several years Lynda worked in retirement and nursing homes, most notably as associate CEO at the Blumenthal Jewish Home in Clemmons (also known as “Fair Oaks”). After its dissolution (which she opposed and regretted), she served as regional administrator for Total Home Care. Later in the 1990s Lynda returned to teaching as an adjunct at UNCC, from which she retired when traffic became a huge hassle. Throughout these years Lynda and Earl traveled extensively and enjoyed cultural offerings at Davidson College.
Lynda was noted for her good nature, her “forthright comments” (wrote one friend), and her dry wit (“funny and irreverent,” recalled another). She loved to be in nature and to grow a small vegetable garden, and she treasured music of various sorts—increasingly the classics and opera. She also loved her families, an affection readily reciprocated. Lynda and Earl moved to The Pines at Davidson in December 2016; Lynda moved to Healthcare there in December 2021.
Lynda is survived by her husband; sons Roger (Melissa Johnston) Price and Eric Price; granddaughter Meg (Christine) Charlson and grandson Jeremy (Hope Parker) Price; baby great-granddaughter Audrey Charlson; nephews Mike and Tracy (Christie) Faulkner; step-son Michael (Lori Hybarger) Edmondson; step-grandson Aidan (Ruiming Chen) Edmondson; step-granddaughter Catherine (Garrett Rogers) Edmondson; step-daughter-in-law Kim Miller Edmondson; and step-granddaughter Roxie Edmondson.
Preceding her in death were her parents, son Rodney Price, brother-in-law Cecil Faulkner, older sister LaVonne Faulkner, nephew Chip Faulkner, and her step-son, Edward (Ted) Edmondson.
The family is immensely grateful for the loving attention with which staff of Pines’ Healthcare assisted Lynda in her final three years.
People who wish to commemorate Lynda may consider, in lieu of flowers, contributions to Hospice (VIA Health Partners, P.O. Box 470408, Charlotte, NC 28247 [donatehospice.org]), The Pines’ Residents Support Fund, or the charity of their choice.
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