Beyond the Run of the Mill

They were married 56 years ago.

College was never an option for the young couple. In that place and time, it was enough of an accomplishment to graduate from high school. "We dream about what we could've done," Bobbie says.

But they were determined that their children would go to college, would soar beyond the limitations they had faced. Years later, when their eldest child made a point of repeating on the campaign trail that he was the first in the family to attend college, they say they felt tremendous pride that their boy had done so well.

When John was born, on June 10, 1953, Wallace Edwards was making about 85 cents an hour at the Seneca mill. The family lived frugally, in a small, pink company house. "You just wouldn't believe how careful I had to be with the money," Bobbie says.

"She worked, too," Wallace adds.

She nods. "Every job I could get," including millwork. "I would fold sheets on the second shift."

But, she makes clear, "my children never suffered." Clothes were clean and pressed, and bills were paid on time. "I had to cook -- eating out was never an option -- but we had a good meal," she says. She doesn't cook mashed potatoes and gravy anymore, she says, "because I used to do it two or three times a week."

They describe their struggles matter-of-factly, without any sense of indignation. It is John Edwards who recounts the sting of watching his parents budget every penny. He has vivid memories of a rare family outing to a restaurant one Sunday after church, when he was 9 or 10 years old.

"The place was packed and I was picking out what I wanted to eat, and my father said, 'We have to leave.' And I said, 'What?,' and he said, 'We have to leave. I can't pay these prices.' We were already seated, and I remember how red-faced I was leaving. I also felt bad for my father, he was such a proud man."

The Edwardses nod politely when the episode is mentioned. "John remembers that real well, and I guess he was embarrassed," Wallace says. But it just didn't make sense to pay so much for something they could eat at home.

* * *

Little Johnny was a bright kid from the start, and his parents delighted in his love for Little Golden Books that Bobbie would buy for 19 cents apiece at the grocery store. "He'd jump up in your lap and want you to read, and he'd learn to read just by memorizing," Wallace says.