MECHANIC FALLS – Frederick H. Edwards, 86, has gone home to be with his Gloria. He was having breakfast in the Mechanic Falls home, where he had lived for nearly 60 years, when he passed away on Monday, March 9.

He was the eldest son of Fred and Elsie Edwards, and was brought up in Poland. He had seven brothers and sisters. He graduated from Mechanic Falls High School, and in June 1943, married Gloria Marie Strout, his high school sweetheart.

He served a four-year stint in the infantry during World War II, and upon his return from Europe took a job at the paper mill in Mechanic Falls. In the mid-1950s, he went to work for Central Maine Power Co., and worked his way through the ranks from laborer to crew chief.

Both his work and his work ethic were admired and respected by his co-workers and management, and he enjoyed a very successful career with the utility until his retirement in the mid-1980s.

He was a do-it-yourself jack-of-all-trades, who virtually rebuilt the house he and his wife owned from the inside out, and he generously shared his skill with friends and neighbors. During his years at CMP, he bowled on the company’s candlepin league, and shared his love of that sport with both of his sons.

He also was a bit of a Civil War history buff, and in mid-life he developed an interest in and love of birds. An avid brook fisherman, he fished nearly every day after work for years, and his family enjoyed more than their fair share of brook trout during fishing season.

In fact, he spent much of his life, whether working or playing, in Maine’s great outdoors. He was famous at CMP for wearing light-weight jackets without hat, scarf or gloves on the job in even the bitterest cold, and reveled in his reputation as a tough guy. He was, however, a teddy bear when it came to his wife and children, and he was a loving husband and father who provided his family with all of life’s necessities and a good many of its luxuries.

He thoroughly enjoyed his retirement and the opportunity it afforded him to spend more time with his wife and grandchildren. He became a much quieter and subdued man after his wife’s death in 1993, and truly missed the love of his life. His passing deeply saddens his family and friends, but we are grateful for his gentle passage.

He is survived by two sons, Bradley Neil Edwards of Auburn and Dana Arnold Edwards of New Jersey; a daughter, Dayle Edwards Dawes of Maryland; five grandchildren, Karen Dawes Steele of Maryland, Julie Edwards Greenwood of Florida, Ethan Edwards of Auburn and Aaron Edwards and Daryl Edwards of West Paris; one great-granddaughter, Lydia Maine Greenwood of Florida; his only surviving sibling, Beulah Edwards Strout of California; and numerous loving nieces and nephews.

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