Tommy Bartlett Edwards

1949 - 2025

Tommy Bartlett Edwards

January 23, 1949 - August 12, 2025

Anderson, South Carolina - Tommy Bartlett Edwards, 76, passed away Tuesday, August 12, 2025, at the Rainey Hospice House.

Born in Anderson, he was the son of the late Harris and Caroline Bartlett Edwards. A graduate of T.L. Hanna High School, Tommy attended Presbyterian College on a football scholarship and served as student body president his senior year. He served as a logistics officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era and later earned his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Tommy began a nearly fifty-year legal career as a VISTA volunteer in Helena, Montana, then entered private practice in Ronan. He returned to South Carolina to serve in the Attorney General's Office, working with the Fish and Wildlife Department. Later, he practiced law in Walhalla before joining the Oconee County Solicitor's Office as an assistant solicitor. In 1991, he was elected Family Court Judge for the Tenth Judicial Circuit and served until his retirement in 2019. A longtime member of the Walhalla Lions Club, Tommy also took on many other leadership roles in service to his community and church. A devoted supporter of T.L. Hanna football, he served for several years as a color commentator on the program's radio broadcasts.

Tommy grew up at First Presbyterian Church in Anderson, later attended Young Memorial ARP Church, and in recent years worshiped at Central Presbyterian Church.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia Edwards; three children, William Harris Edwards (Alison), Caroline Bartlett Edwards (Wes), and Benjamin Edwin Harvin Edwards (Andie); and his grandchildren, Liam and Arthur Edwards; Wesley and Tommy Edwards; and Atlas Edwards and Benjamin Lucian Harvin Edwards. He is also survived by two stepsons, John Clayton "Clay" Ross (Marie) and James Tyler Ross (Cora); step-grandchildren, Isla Gray Ross, Etta Maeve Ross, and Eden Alivia Ross; his brother, Harris "Sonny" Edwards (Beth); and his nieces and nephews, all of whom he loved dearly.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his stepmother, Carolyn Lundkovsky Edwards, and two sisters, Caroline Phillips Edwards and Mary Ann Edwards Bobo.

Tommy was an avid fly fisherman who loved the rivers and streams of western North Carolina and Montana. He treasured fall Saturdays, T.L. Hanna and South Carolina football, and most of all, time spent with his grandchildren.

A service to celebrate Tommy's life will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, August 15, at First Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends following the service in the church welcome center.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in memory of Tommy Edwards to the Diana Lynn Holt and William P. Steele, Jr. Memorial Award Endowment Fund at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

Online donations: donate.sc.edu/direct-your-gift?fund=33dbbbed-3f5d-4aa6-b10a-ad085d5a3802.

By mail: Make checks payable to USC Educational Foundation (Fund b12659) and send to:

USC Educational Foundation.

1600 Hampton Street, Suite 738.

Columbia, SC 29208.

Sullivan-King Mortuary.

www.sullivanking.com.