Jun. 13 2005, 02:30 PM

Saturday, June 11, 2005

By JIM WOZNIAK
NET News Service

ERWIN - Fellow workers in the Unicoi County Courthouse rallied Friday to the aid of a state employee whose husband, a member of the National Guard unit in town, died in his sleep Thursday while he was serving in Iraq.

Employees at the courthouse collected more than $250 by early afternoon, and a fund was being established at First Tennessee Bank to support Kim Edwards, wife of fallen Staff Sgt. Mark Edwards. Meanwhile, a framed picture of him in his uniform holding a weapon sat on a table on the front porch of the courthouse.

Arrangements for his funeral have not been finalized, according to Unicoi Funeral Home, but Erwin Mayor Brushy Lewis said Thursday that the military was coming to town to help Kim Edwards work through those details.

A military representative told Kim Edwards that when a group went to rouse Edwards and his fellow soldiers, who might have been on a mission, he did not awake. It is unclear what caused him to die, but an autopsy will be performed. Edwards, 40, was a member of Company H, 2nd Squadron, 278th Armored Calvary Regiment, based in Erwin and lived locally in Unicoi at 201 Woodby Lane. The American flag in front of the Armory and at other spots around Erwin was flying at half-staff.

Unicoi County Mayor Larry Rose said Friday that he would probably present to the County Commission at its next regular meeting some way to honor Edwards. He did not know exactly what that might be, saying he would have to check what is appropriate and what commemoration has been offered in the past.

"It hits home when it's that close," Rose said. "Sometimes you need to stop and think how precious each and every day that God gives you is. We sometimes take for granted tomorrow is always going to be here. That is not always the case."

Rose recalled entering the back of the courthouse earlier this week as Kim Edwards talked outside with her husband in Iraq. Rose said he told her to inform him that the county was proud of him and the work of the military there. He said Edwards thanked him for the comments.

Priscilla Saylor, who works in the Labor and Workforce Development office in the courthouse and was present when Kim Edwards received the news of her husband's death, said his wife told her that he would be retiring from the Guard in November. Saylor said the only drawback Edwards mentioned about being in Iraq was the heat.

Edwards apparently had come home about a month ago for a visit.

On Thursday, the military found Kim Edwards at the courthouse and told her what had happened. The group, which was joined by Lewis and a Unicoi County sheriff's deputy, then went to tell Edwards' son, Drew, who enters his senior year at Unicoi County High School this fall.

A co-worker of Kim Edwards, Sadie Lovette, said Thursday she informed Kim Edwards' mother and daughter when they arrived at the courthouse.

"The little girl just fell into my arms," Lovette said of the incoming seventh-grader as she began to cry. "She's lived with Mark for a long time. That was like her father. No child should ever have to go through that, no family. It makes you stop and just thank God for your own family, that they're hopefully safe at the moment."

Staff Sgt. Mark Edwards

Story Copyright to Kingsport Times -News