ELIZABETH ANANIA EDWARDS ’ 71 (’ 77 JD) 1949–2010
Lawyer, Mother, Author Weathered Good Times and Bad
Edwards, who also earned a law degree
from Carolina in 1977, was the estranged wife
of John Edwards ’ 77 (JD), whose first run for
public office in 1996 took him to the U.S.
Senate; from there, he ran for vice president
with John Kerry in 2004 and for president
four years later. Elizabeth Edwards’ struggles
were many — the loss of a teenage son, her
husband’s acknowledged infidelity with a cam-
paign worker and her cancer. She was noted
for exuding optimism as she faced difficult
times, and she became an exam-
ple to others to look at the best in life.
After Edwards earned her bachelor’s degree,
she completed three years of graduate study in
American literature before deciding to pursue
a law degree. Throughout her life, she was an
avid Carolina basketball fan. In law school, she
met John Edwards, and they married in 1977,
shortly after both had passed the bar exam.
They separated early in 2010.
In addition to being a sought-after speaker
on health care issues, Edwards became an
author, sharing with the world her personal
struggles in two books: Saving Graces: Finding
Solace and Strength From Friends and Strangers in
2006 and Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens
and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities in 2009. She
participated in the N.C. Literary Festival held
at UNC in 2009.
When she was a child, her family moved
frequently; her father was a Navy pilot who
was with UNC’s Naval ROTC unit in 1970,
during her undergraduate years at UNC. The
family lived at 410 E. Franklin St., known as
the James Lee Love residence and now home
of UNC’s Center for the Study of the
American South. While in law school, she was
editor of Law Review and later returned to the
law school as an adjunct instructor. She also
served on the UNC Board of Visitors from
2001 to 2005.
Elizabeth Edwards ’ 71 posted on Facebook that she had
“been sustained throughout my life by ... my family, my
friends and a faith in the power of resilience and hope.”
Elizabeth Anania Edwards ’ 71 — who became a public figure as a result of the
political aspirations of her husband and then
used her prominence on the national stage to
advocate for health care reform and the needs
of children — died Dec. 7 in Chapel Hill. She
was 61.
Edwards was noted for sharing with the
public her ongoing efforts to keep her cancer
in remission. Her family had announced on
Dec. 6 that doctors from UNC Hospitals had
said no further treatment was possible, and a
message posted on her Facebook page that
day spoke eloquently of both life and death:
NEWS & OBSERVER/ROBERT WILLETT
“I have been sustained throughout my life
by three saving graces — my family, my
friends and a faith in the power of resilience
and hope,” she wrote. “These graces have carried me through difficult times, and they have
brought more joy to the good times than I
ever could have imagined. The days of our
lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know
that. And yes, there are certainly times when
we aren’t able to muster as much strength and
patience as we would like. It’s called being
human. But I have found that in the simple
act of living with hope, and in the daily effort
to have a positive impact in the world, the days
I do have are made all the more meaningful
and precious. And for that I am grateful.”
in
memoriam
— Sally Walters
Maureen Moczek Hartford (’ 70, ’ 69 AB; ’ 72 MACT)
of Raleigh has been named one of Wake County’s
most influential women by Cary Magazine. Hartford is
president of Meredith College. ◆ W. Herbert Jackson
Jr. (’ 70 MFA) of Davidson exhibited 10 new paintings
at the Christa Faut Gallery in Cornelius in October.
Jackson plans to retire as professor of art at Davidson College in May, concluding a 42-year teaching
career at the college. ◆ Thomas Cleveland Ricketts
III (’ 70 AB, ’ 78 MPH, ’ 88 PhD) of Chapel Hill has
been appointed to the National Health Care Work-force Commission, tasked with aligning federal
health-care work force resources with national needs.
Ricketts is a professor in the department of health
policy and management at UNC’s Gillings School of
Global Public Health and deputy director for policy
analysis at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health
Services Research. ◆ H. David Swain (’ 70 BSBA) of
Wilmington, founder of the real estate services firm
Swain & Associates, has been named to the board
of trustees for UNC-Wilmington. Swain and his wife,
Diane, strong supporters of UNC-W, gave a gift valued at $1 million in 2009 to establish the H. David
and Diane Swain Center for Business and Economic
Services in the Cameron School of Business.
■ obituaries
William Alfred Bauer (’ 70 PhD), 78, of Fredericton,
New Brunswick, Canada; June 12, 2010. Bauer
retired as professor of English at the University of
New Brunswick following a 30-year career. ◆
Karen Marie Berg (’ 70 MSLS), 67, of Hallowell,
Maine; Oct. 27, 2010. Berg retired as reference and
cataloging librarian at the Maine State Library. ◆
Jose Miguel Infante (’ 70 MA), 91, of Raleigh; Sept.
27, 2010. Infante was a Spanish teacher in the
Wake County public schools for more than 30 years.
◆ Warren Lancaster Wheeler (’ 70, ’ 73 AB; ’ 82
MSW), 61, of Chapel Hill; Aug. 9, 2010. Wheeler
was a licensed clinical social worker who focused on
working with the underprivileged. He served in the
Vietnam War and received the Purple Heart.
’ 71 Thomas Eddie Bullard (’ 71 AB) of Bloomington, Ind., has published The Myth and Mystery of UFOs. In the
book, Bullard discusses UFO sightings and asks
what these accounts tell us about ourselves and our
beliefs. ◆ William A.
Shore (’ 71) of Durham
has been elected to the
board of the UNC School
of Education Foundation Inc. Shore is director of
U.S. community partnerships for GlaxoSmithKline.
◆ Walter R. Turner (’ 71 MSW) of High Point was the
featured speaker for the October meeting of the
Class of ’71:
May 6–8, 2011
40 Reunionth
High Point Museum Guild. Turner, a historian of the
N.C. Transportation Museum, spoke about the railroad history of High Point.
■ obituaries
David Bahnson Butler (’ 71), 61, of Winston-Salem;
Oct. 20, 2010. Butler retired from an executive
position in the information resources department of
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Among many civic commitments, he was president of Sci-Works and a
member of the Woodberry Forest Advisory Council.
At UNC, he belonged to Delta Kappa Epsilon. ◆ Alan
Massey Howe (’ 71 AB, ’ 72 MAT), 60, of Wilmington;
Sept. 8, 2010. Howe was a software engineer for
AT&T at Bell Laboratories and later worked as a consultant in his field. ◆ Margaret Johnston (’ 71
BMEd), 61, of Matthews; Sept. 20, 2010. Johnston
was working as a project leader with Wachovia-Wells Fargo Bank. Previously, she was a music
teacher in N.C. public schools and was pianist for
her Charlotte church. ◆ James Robert Sanford (’ 71
AB), 63, of Arden; Feb. 5, 2010. Sanford retired as
unit manager of the Asheville office of Vocational
Rehabilitation. He was co-owner of Teacher’s Edition
book and supply store and was involved with the
South Buncombe Youth Leagues. ◆ P. Woody
Smith (’ 71 AB), 60, of Greenwich, Conn.; March 16,
2010. Smith owned a textile business in New York
