J. Kirk Edwards remembered

MIDDLEBURY | J. Kirk Edwards, formerly of Ferrisburgh, passed away earlier this month at his retirement residence in South Carolina. Edwards served as the Vermont Eagle's news photographer from 2002 to 2011. Edwards was born in Clarence, New York, on Feb. 23, 1943. As a child, Edwards was sent to France while his father served in the U.S. Navy. He spent his later youth in Mt. Kisco, New York, Grey, Maine, and in Salisbury, Vermont, where his father ran a bungalow colony for summer rentals along the north end of Lake Dunmore. He later lived in Plainfield, Waterbury, and Ferrisburgh. At the start of the Vietnam War in 1964, Edwards volunteered as a U.S. Army aviator. He flew dangerous Army Intelligence reconnaissance missions aboard a small observer aircraft, often operating low over jungle treetops near the border of the former South Vietnam and North Vietnam. A graduate of the State University of New York, Purchase with a B.A. degree in fine arts and a minor in botany, he worked for several years as a photojournalist with newspapers in the Hudson Valley region. During Edwards' stint with the Vermont Eagle, he won numerous news awards for his photography from the National Newspaper Association and Association of Free Community Papers, among others. In addition to being a photographer, Edwards found work as a salesman, cook, carpenter, an automobile "repo man", and arts teacher. He loved steam trains as well as hunting, fishing, painting, drawing, cooking, and astronomy. He was an accomplished musician and played the drums, stride piano, and Spanish guitar. During his retirement years, he managed the popular, and often controversial, Vermont Woodchuck political blog online. He is survived by Nancy, a beloved domestic companion of many years, and brothers Kevin and John, as well as sisters Missy, Deborah, Gina, Laura, and a pet cat named MnaMna.■

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J. Kirk Edwards remembered

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