Posted on 07/07/2004 2:45:46 PM PDT by Jenya
Running for his son: Teen's death changed Edwards' life
Almost everything John and Elizabeth Edwards have done since the death of their 16-year-old son has been in memory of Wade or influenced by his tragic loss - even the meteoric political career John Edwards [related, bio] began shortly afterward.
Friends have said the importance of Wade's death in the Edwardses' lives cannot be overestimated. John Edwards coached daughter Catharine and Wade in soccer and basketball. In 1995, John and Wade climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania together - the son helping the altitude-sick father make it to the summit. Wade worked at his father's law practice, and wrote a national prize-winning essay about his dream of becoming a lawyer in partnership with his dad.
``There is no adequate way I can express the pride I felt for my son,'' Edwards has written.
All of it ended in April 1996. Wade and a friend were driving to the family's beach house near Wilmington, N.C., when their Jeep veered and rolled over, apparently shoved by a gust of wind for which Wade overcorrected. There was no sign of alcohol or speeding, and Wade was wearing a seatbelt, but he was dead at the scene. Friends have said Edwards, overcome with grief, stopped working for months. Wade's room was untouched for at least two years, even the half-finished bottle of Gatorade on his bedside table.
``You just can't appreciate the pain parents feel until it happens to you,'' David Kirby, Edwards' law partner, told the Raleigh News & Observer.
But it was during this time that, in addition to initiating numerous memorial projects, Edwards decided to pursue his dream of a political career, reportedly deciding life is too short to postpone one's dreams.
Over Wade's grave is a 10-foot sculpture of an angel, cradling a figure that bears the boy's likeness. On the grounds of Broughton High School in Raleigh, the Edwardses built a 120-foot-long sculpture of a comet, with 70 handprints of his classmates. They created a writing contest and endowed a chair at the University of North Carolina law school in his name. They also founded the nonprofit Wade Edwards Learning Lab, an after-school computer center across the street from Wade's school.
Then, at age 48, Elizabeth Edwards decided to have more children with the aid of fertility drugs - Emma Claire in 1998 and in 2000, when Elizabeth was 50, John Atticus. Atticus was the name Wade used in high school Latin class.
Edwards has avoided discussing his son's death and has never allowed it to be used as a campaign theme. But friends have said the tragedy was behind his decision to challenge Republican Sen. Lauch Faircloth in 1998, his first and only campaign before running for president and now vice president in the current election cycle. He had been mulling politics for years, and Wade had urged him to run.
``It was something Wade wanted him to do,'' Elizabeth Edwards told the News & Observer.
She has already had a makeover? It didn't take. What can we do for the poor woman?
This really infuriates me. You just have no idea what it would take for a person to do this.
The lowest of the low.
I would keep her completely shielded from the limelight this election, as much as possible.
My bet is he will use her for photo-ops.
Using this tragedy for personal promotion is beyond despicable. It takes a special kind of almost sociopathic behavior to do such a thing.
I take every opportunity that presents itself to talk (ad nauseum, I'm sure) about carbon monoxide detectors (and yes, you need one even if you "only" have a gas grill or gas logs), but this is beyong anything I've ever seen.
It's beyong comprehension to me; I cannot imagine what "place" you would have to be in in your healing process to let this go on.
I'll see if I can find that picture of her. I'm curious now.
You mean the Yankee trash?
Normally, I don't comment on situations where people lose their young children...but since Edwards has decided to wear his son's death on his sleeve, he's fair game.
First, I've driven many a jeep. Claiming that a gust of wind was to blame for their son's accident is total bullsh!t.
If Wade wasn't experienced enough to handle his jeep when a hard gust of wind hit it, his parents shouldn't have allowed him to drive it.
Maybe the jeep had a blowout. I'd believe that. Maybe Wade was driving the jeep like it was a low slung camaro, trying to act bad in front of his friends. I'd believe that.
No...any parent that allows their inexperienced child to drive a vehicle like a jeep is to blame. I'm f'n sick of hearing parents cry the blues after little johnny wraps his 400 HP boss mustang that his parents bought him for his 16th birthday, around a telephone pole, killing lil Johnny and his friends.
No, I haven't lost a child. Juries award millions of dollars to the parents of accident victims all the time and certainly Edwards secured this sort of "compensation" for similarly grieving parents before. He wouldn't be able to secure himself any compensation by bringing The Wind to trial...is all I'm saying.
In short, John Edwards became wealthy by financially ruining other people. Some people deserve to be penalized for faulty practices or products or harmful behavior, but no one deserves to be ruined.
To be a Democrat is to be devoid of a soul as well as a brain.
Look here Howlin'. My 7 times Great Grandpa Alexander was one of the Founders of Charlotte, so I won't be hearing any of that crazy "Yankee" stuff of your'n.
Thanks for the pic. I like your tagline ;-)
I've been to Charlotte; I wouldn't brag about that if I were you.
When the couple finally resurfaced after six months of mourning, they had made some life-changing decisions.
"The kind of carefree happiness we had before is forever gone from our lives," Elizabeth Edwards told an interviewer. "We will never have that feeling again."
Edwards returned to work — but only briefly. Wade's death had made his work difficult because it regularly immersed him in other families' tragedies, many of them involving children. [Yet he was able to exploit his son's death in the pool drain case? What fortitude!]
He decided to run for the Senate, a career move he had pondered periodically in the past — with encouragement at the time from his son. ELIZABETH Edwards said she initially thought Wade's death would make her husband less likely to seek public office, but she was wrong. "The one thing a child's death does is wipe the slate clean for you," she said. "It was something Wade wanted him to do."
The Edwards also decided to have more children. "We asked ourselves, 'How in the world are we ever going to get joy back into our lives again,' " said Elizabeth Edwards. "It became clear, the answer was children." [I hope that didn't hurt their older daughter's feelings too much]
Emma Claire was born in 1998, followed two years later by John Atticus. Atticus was the name Wade was given in his high school Latin class.
The Edwards also turned to religion, joining a Methodist congregation and attending Bible study classes. "As you would expect when Wade died . . . you do a lot of thinking and self-analysis, and my faith came soaring back," Edwards noted. "My relationship with the Lord and its importance to me became clear."
......
Pardon my cynicism, but it's possible the church membership, having babies, etc., also were considered advantageous to a political candidate. He looks a lot more young and vigorous with two little children than with one 20-something daughter.
The NY Daily News has a sappy column about the late Wade, too: Inspiration from the son he misses so .
What is it with Kerry an pink ties? Is that his "metrosexual" appeal?
His pink ties match his rouge and lipstick.
Pay closer attention!
Used to be a nice place before the Tidewater bankers moved in. You know that!
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