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.
That sounds like the Simpson's episode where Homer gets cable to watch the big boxing match. The first boxer says he's fighting in honor of his dead manager than the second boxer says he's fighting for the other guy's dead manager as well.
The other offensive thing about this article is where it's published.
You know Kerry had something to do with this.
I am FAT myself, like Mrs. Edwards.
Believe me, if I had $50,000,000 socked away, 3 multimillion dollars houses, etc., I'd look a HELL of a lot better than that.
You can buy it!
Already done. Today when Kerry and Edwards made their first joint appearance, Kerry made sure to point out the kids and that one of Edwards' little ones was being hoisted about by one of the big ones (I think one of Kerry's daughters). It did have a "DON'T MISS THE CUTE KID" effect.
Hi Peach!
"What happened to the other child in the car?"
http://www.roadwomen.com/Articles_Archive/ananswer-edwards.htm
An Answer That's Blowing in the Wind
What a dork
Thanks for the link
You know I've been commenting for weeks. There's something very weird there. It is ODD. Wearing them often would be unusual enough, IMO. But he wears them *all the time*, lipstick or no! And he does have a subtle shade of that which coordinates nicely. LOL)
The pink tie obviously matches his political ideology.
That same exact move by my parents saved my sister's life when she tangled with a bus as an inexperienced driver. She forgot about the bus having to make wide turns and scooted up the side of it... the Volvo was partially crushed but she was only bruised. In any other car we would have arranged a funeral for her instead of a sling.
Until Aaron Brown found out she was a woman... ;-)
Good point.
my sentiments exactly, I wasn't sure how to word it
Hey, welcome back, cyncooper. Hope you had a good time.
What a load of tripe. He has done nothing to stop the exploitation of this tragedy nor has he done any pro bono legal work on behalf of MADD or any other traffic or child safety related causes.
My point is not so much what caused the accident; only that is was an accident. And John Edwards exploited the accidents of others to make his fortune. I am simply wondering aloud how it must have felt to have the shoe on the other foot. He and his wife understood it was an accident and accidents happen. I am sure if there had been injuries to the other boy, the Edwards would have either offered a settlement or been sued.
I also remember the conspiracy buffs accusing Laura Bush of a cover-up when she was involved in a fatal accident as a teen driver. People accused the Bush family of a cover-up.
Reverting to my usual mean-spirited self...that thought occurred to me as well...would they have had two babies if the first had been a boy? and I wonder about the first daughter, who lost her "big brother" but has new sib's young enough to be her own children...
I do have to say, you, Howlin, are obviously a very courageous and sane person who deserves enormous credit for coping with your own loss...there are so many "stories" that are never told, but blessings on you and all the other quietly good and persevering folks...may you find happiness in day-to-day life, and know that "your reward in Heaven will be great".
I wondered that very same thing; if the girl had been a boy, would they have stopped there?
What if he/she didn't bring them joy?
Believe me, all kinds of things go through your mind; but this stuff is beyond weirdo!
I thank you for your kind words.
You'd be surprised how many people here on FR have lost a child -- and they all helped me immensely! Not to mention everybody else......you can't believe the support I STILL get to this day. You all are sort of like group therapy, only it's open 24/7!
I'm not courageous at all; you just have two choices: get in the bed and never get up, or live your life; luckily for me, when my sister died in 1996, my son had reamed me out about letting her death thrown me into a deep depression, so I knew exactly what he wanted me to do!
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