Shelter Island Reporter obituary: Norma B. Edwards

Norma B. Edwards, a longtime Shelter Island resident, passed away on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. She was 95 years old.

Norma was born on Jan. 13, 1928 in Williston Park, N.Y. to Gertrude (née Wogas) and Beverly Browne. She was an only child. She graduated from Mineola High School, eighth in her class in 1946.

On April 17, 1948 in New Jersey, she married the love of her life, the late Elmer W. Edwards, better known as Sonny. Their marriage lasted 60 years and they had four children. Together, they enjoyed dancing, throwing parties and going out on their boat, The Misfit, with the kids to fish, clam and scallop.

In her professional career, Norma was elected to 15 terms as the Shelter Island Town Tax Receiver from January 1970 to January 2000.

She was a member of the Suffolk County Association of Towns, a chaplain for the American Legion Mitchell Post 281, a member of the American Legion Mitchell Post 281 Auxiliary, a member of the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, where she served as an elder and deacon, and a member of the Shelter Island Bowling League.

Norma enjoyed crafts; she was an able seamstress, and taught all 3 of her daughters how to sew. She liked to buy antique furniture at yard sales, which she stripped and re-painted or re-varnished.

She enjoyed canning produce from their garden with her husband, and was particularly known for her bread and butter pickles. She also had a beautiful soprano voice, which she ably used in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church choir.

Predeceased by her husband Sonny and daughter Christine Gross, Norma is survived by her children Chip Edwards and his wife Lyndy of Shelter Island, Karen Edwards and her husband Joe Lauro of Sag Harbor, and Lee Anne Bastible and her husband Pat of Shelter Island, and grandchildren Nicholas Gross and Oliver Lauro.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, Dec. 23rd at 11 a.m. at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, officiated by Pastor Stephen Adkison. Interment will take place at Emily French Cemetery on Shelter Island.

The Shelter Island Funeral Home is serving the family.