Joseph Edwards Sr.

Joseph Edwards Sr., 1960-2005

Judy Walker
Staff writer

Joseph "Big Joe" Edwards Sr. always had a beautiful voice. He loved to sing the old-time hymns, such as "Amazing Grace," and his favorite, "His Eye Is on the Sparrow."

He also used to imitate Barry White, said his sister, Anna Collins. "He sounded just like him when he sang. He sang all the Barry White songs" -- plus some Luther Vandross.

Edwards, a lifelong resident of the Lower 9th Ward, sang at the New Jerusalem Temple Baptist Church, and music was a lifelong hobby. He played drums and other instruments.

"Joseph was shy as a little boy, but as he grew up, like a tree or a flower, he blossomed," Collins said.

"Everybody wanted to be around him, his schoolmates, all his little friends, his teachers."

He met his wife when "I was selling candy for the church," said Antoinette Edwards, whom he married 20 years ago.

"He would come by and buy praline candy. My mama used to make it and we would sell it at the church." He was a good husband and loving father who adopted her two children, Raymond, now 22, and Shawanda, 20. Together, the couple had Ashley, now 18, Joseph Edwards Jr., 14, and Decamellia, 12.

"He treated them all the same," said his cousin Patrice Milton. "He was a very good dad."

Collins said Edwards loved children and Halloween and never failed to buy candy for the kids, playing little tricks on them as well as handing out treats.

Although his childhood nickname was "Master," Edwards was known as "Big Joe" throughout the Lower 9th Ward, his family members said.

He was a large man, and one of the things he was known for was his excellent cooking.

"He would cook anything and everything you asked him," Collins said. "His favorite was sweet potato pie. And he made some good gumbo. . . . He learned really on his own, watching my grandmother and my mama."

For 15 years, Edwards worked for the New Orleans Recreation Department. He was a people kind of person, his sister said.

When Katrina threatened the city, the rest of his family evacuated, but Edwards stayed behind in their house on Caffin Avenue.

"He always wanted to ride it out," Antoinette Edwards said. "He thought the storm would never come."

His body was recovered several blocks away from the family home. The family recently held a memorial service in Bethany, Okla., where the children now live. But his family members said the residents of the Lower 9th are so scattered that many friends and family still don't know "Big Joe" perished in the storm.

His third grandchild, a girl, was born Oct. 14, on what would have been Big Joe's 45th birthday.

Published in The Times-Picayune