Edith Baugh Darwin

Edith Gallagher Baugh Darwin, 90, who resided at 1351 Robinwood Road, Gastonia, North Carolina, has died after an extended illness on Saturday, July 16, 2011. A public visitation and liturgy readings will be held on Monday, July 18, 2011 between the hours of 2pm – 4pm at Covenant Village in Gastonia. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Gastonia at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. Officiating priests will be Reverend George M. Kloster, Abbott Placid Solari, O. S. B. and Rev. Roger L. Arnsparger. Interment will follow at Belmont Abbey Cemetery in Belmont. Edith was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 15, 1921, as the daughter of Edward Felix Gallagher and Effie Lowry Gallagher. Her father and brother (Edward Felix Gallagher, Jr) co-founded Good Will Publishers, Inc which remains in operation today. Edith has lived in the Gastonia community since she was twelve years old and was proud to have raised her own family of six children in Gastonia. She also has two stepchildren, eighteen grandchildren, five step grandchildren and thirty great grandchildren. She was married for 31 years to Thomas Edward Baugh who died in 1970. Her second marriage was to John Volney Darwin who died in 1997. Edith was a graduate of Sacred Heart Academy and Junior College in Belmont, and served the Gastonia community her entire life. She was a member of the first Council of Auxiliaries in the State of North Carolina, and a charter member and President of Gaston Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, where she served on its board for 20 years. Her tireless energy and spirit of service also benefitted numerous other community organizations including the Red Cross (where she served on the board of directors), the United Way, the Heart Society, the Schiele Museum, and the Gastonia Little Theater where she was a charter member. She was on numerous committees at Sacred Heart College and was President of St. Michael's PTA, and was also the first President of the Confraternity of Christian Mothers at St. Michael's. Edith also served on the board of the National Council of Christians and Jews, and was a member for many years of the executive committee of Gaston County Democratic Women. Her commitment to service was recognized when she was awarded a Doctorate of Laws (honoris causa) from Belmont Abbey College in 1996 and had the Paul B. Harris Fellow honor bestowed on her by The Rotary Club of Gastonia, in 2004. Also in 2004, she became an Associate of the South Central Region of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Those who know Edith know that her true passion was never more evident than in her spirit of service and devotion to her church where she was an active and dedicated member for 75 years. Her actions of service to St. Michael's are too many to enumerate fully, but consisted of remaining active in all aspects of the church and St. Michael's School, service on many committees, running many fund raising campaigns. Serving as a lay minister for more than 30 years, Edith also served on the first Parish Advisory Council. Other than her husbands, Tom and Jack, she was preceded in death by one sister, Catherine Gallagher Gardner, two brothers, Edward Felix Gallagher, Jr. and Robert Melvin Gallagher. She will be mourned in death by a loving family, including her six children: Thomas Edward Baugh Jr. of Boynton Beach, Florida, Brenda Baugh Craig of Gastonia, North Carolina, Peggy Baugh Baker of Roxboro, North Carolina, Clelland Robert Baugh of Gun Barrel City, Texas, Richard Sutton Baugh of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Mary Baugh Jacobs of Clermont, Florida. Her two stepchildren are David Alan Darwin of Charlotte, North Carolina and Dr. John Robert Darwin of Asheboro, North Carolina. Her 18 grandchildren are Thomas Edward Baugh, III, Scott Conley Baugh, Lydia Baugh Hanna, Sidney Wilson Craig, Jr. Dawn Craig Weldon, Donald Stephen Baker, Elizabeth Baker Lindsey, David Ashley Baugh, Amy Baugh Merritt, Preston Gallagher Baugh, Brian Leslie Baugh, Phillip Wesley Baugh, George Erskine Mitchell, Jr., Joseph Alan Mitchell, Mary Cannan Darwin, Chris Alan Darwin, Allison Louise Darwin and Robert William Darwin. Other family members include Lane Rockett Baugh, Pamela Reames Baugh, Sidney Wilson Craig, Donald Scott Baker (deceased), Patricia Moye Baugh Gantt (deceased), Terry Lee Knapp, Sharon Mims Baugh, George Erskine Mitchell (deceased), James George Jacobs, Anne Smith Darwin, Jane Cameron Darwin, Nick Michael Londakis, Barrie Gore Baugh, David Elam Hanna, Donna Collis Craig, Mark Raynor Weldon, Michelle Drake Baker (deceased), Jeffrey Scott Lindsey, Lisa Pucel Baugh, Brenda Wright Baugh, Carmen Rowell Baugh, Mary King Mitchell, Amy Flowers Mitchell and Laura Kildosher Darwin, 5 nephews, and 30 great-grandchildren She will also be remembered by five step-grandchildren: John S. Divine IV, Favor Elizabeth Divine, James George Jacobs III, Adrienne Jacobs Bates, and Camille Gwendolyn Jacobs. Pallbearers will be the oldest child of each of Edith's six children: Thomas Edward Baugh, III, Sidney Wilson Craig, Jr. Donald Stephen Baker, David Ashley Baugh, Brian Leslie Baugh and George Erskine Mitchell, Jr. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice of Gaston County, Box 3984, Gastonia, NC 28054; Covenant Village Benevolent Fund, 1351 Robinwood Road, Gastonia, NC 28054 or St. Michael's Catholic Church, 708 St. Michael's Lane, Gastonia, NC 28052. McLean Funeral Directors of Gastonia is serving the family of Mrs. Darwin.