Annette Michelle Edelen

Annette Michelle Edelen, of Fayetteville, passed away on Thursday, July 3, 2025, at 65 years old. She was born Wednesday, January 6, 1960, in Amarillo, Texas, to Eloe R. Edelen and Delores A. Bryant. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Robert L. Edelen, paternal grandparents Robert P. Edelen and Lela McGuinn-Edelen, maternal grandparents Dewey Bertram-Shelley and Beulah Hulsey-Shelley, and her great-granddaughter Rowan Conley.
Annette was a civil rights activist. She was very involved in the rights of African Americans, given that all of her children and grandchildren are black and or biracial. She attended The Potter's House of Dallas for a number of years and then moved back to Arkansas and attended a few different churches over the years. Even after her years of not going to church anymore she still remained fearful and loving of God.
Annette loved to read and soaked up information like a sponge in her younger years. In her younger years she was a pro-waitress and often went on strikes for higher pay during her time. She loved to sing and was good at it, she taught her children and grandchildren their love for music, along with her mother. She liked to paint different clay objects, and making jewelry. She was always the one to have something handmade to give and it was always beautiful and made with such love, another thing she inherited from her mother.
Annette was a mother to all who entered her dwelling no matter their position with the Lord. If you needed encouragement, a meal, an ear or a shoulder she was always there. She was the definition of turning the other cheek because even people who had done terrible things to her, she would still say a prayer for them and show no ill intentions.
She organized family gatherings often to enjoy her grandchildren and children. Even when times were hard, she always made something good out of it. She was most likely the one to say what everyone else was thinking; good, bad or in between. Then she would follow it with "Well everyone else was thinking it", and everyone laugh.
She was an exceptional woman and showed true resilience. From a child, to getting pregnant around 14-15, experiencing having to put her child up for adoption, because the times she lived in didn't accept her child being biracial. She strived to never lose touch and once she left home she sought after her daughter. From that point forward she never stopped being everything she could be to provide, and we are forever grateful for her.
Annette is survived by her three children, Lakesha Edelen, Brianna Miller, and Keshawn Mahone; nine grandchildren, Rodrick Edelen, Darrien Edelen, De'Ja Edelen, Ali Thompson, Tianna Thompson, Taye Edelen, Tatiyanna Thompson, Aliyah Miller, and Iyanna Miller; five great-grandchildren, Maleah Woods, Amir Edelen, Kehlanni Balentine, Aziel Edelen, and Zhavia Edelen; her sister Shelley Edelen-Cooper; and many other family members, friends, and loved ones.
A Memorial Service will be held for Annette on Tuesday, July 15th, 2025, at 2:00 P.M. at Moore's Chapel in Fayetteville.