Skip to content
Obituaries
Link copied to clipboard

Rogers Edwards Sr., a skilled jack-of-all-trades

Rogers Edwards Sr., who spent his retirement years in his own home-improvement business where his jack-of-all-trades skills were in great demand by family and friends, died Sunday of lung disease. He was 87 and lived in Grays Ferry.

Rogers Edwards Sr., who spent his retirement years in his own home-improvement business where his jack-of-all-trades skills were in great demand by family and friends, died Sunday of lung disease. He was 87 and lived in Grays Ferry.

Rogers was also a dedicated member of Zion Hill Baptist Church, in West Philadelphia, where he was ordained a deacon. He also served his community as the captain of the 1400 block of South Patton Street, where he saw to it that Christmas lights were installed every year and helped organize block parties.

He was born in Florence County, S.C., the youngest of the nine children of Martha and Ned Edwards. He was educated in Timmonsville, S.C.

He met and married the late Charlena Johnson and they relocated to Philadelphia. He was employed by the Railway Express Co. for more than 40 years and also worked as a laborer for McCloskey Construction Co.

He attended Drexel University for a semester.

Rogers joined Zion Hill Baptist Church, where he was baptized by the late Rev. A.J. Spence in 1953. He was president of the Men's Usher Board for more than 20 years. He was the spiritual leader of the youth ushers and the Inspirational Choir.

He is survived by four daughters, Clara E. Huggins, Linda Rhone-Fox, Diane Edwards and Carmen Yvette Edwards; three sons, Brunson Edwards, Rogers Edwards Jr. and Melvin Edwards; two sisters, Ruth Bristow and Naomi Edwards; six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

Services: 10 a.m. tomorrow at Zion Hill Baptist Church, 5301 Spruce St. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Mount Lawn Cemetery, Sharon Hill. *