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Edith Odell Johnson Price entered into eternal rest May 6, 2017, just shy of her 97th birthday. She is remembered for her tireless devotion to her family, friends, and faith. Never content to sit still, she was always in motion tending to the needs of others, something she learned as a young girl in place so rural and wide open it was not worthy of being called a town. Edith was born May 24, 1920, in Comanche County, to Ause Johnson and Effie Lee Williams Johnson and was the youngest of her four siblings: Elmer, Johnnie, Gladys, and Beulah. With a 15 year separation in age from Beulah and her older siblings moving on to form families of their own, Edith was faced with an even greater responsibility as the only remaining child in her household. Raised on a cotton farm in the searing heat of the South Texas sun, Edith knew of struggle and survival, but her life was still better than most. Life on the farm afforded little exposure the “roaring” 1920s and the rebirth of a nation after World War I. Picking cotton and working the land with her family marked the landscape of her early years. Her parents ultimately settled in Cotulla, Texas, where she joined other school children in the delights of youth and graduated from high school. It was there she met her life-long sweetheart, Floyd Price. They married Jan. 4, 1939. She joined Floyd on his family’s dairy farm and took on new responsibilities as the head cook for the prominent local operation. Her first son, Daniel Floyd, was born in 1941 and James Thomas was born in 1946. They later moved to San Antonio and had a third son, William Wayne in 1952. Edith, pragmatic and determined, worked hard outside the home to contribute to her family. She began her career at Sears and then joined Montgomery Wards, where she quickly earned a name for herself, opening three stores for the company and managing its extensive linen department until she retired. She met her closest life-long friends there and their families became her family too. When her rambunctious and spirited sons began their families, her family pride extended to tending to her grandchildren, seven in all. She took time to develop relationships with each one, but loved it most when everyone was together—the fuller her house the better. Her strength of character, determined spirit, and stubborn and protective nature -- informed and suspended by the early lessons of her youth -- may have led one to believe she lacked vulnerability. To the contrary, her tender heart was revealed and shaped by grief. She lost her eldest son Daniel in a tragic accident in 1977 and her husband of 51 years in 1990 to cancer. It did not matter if you were there with her or had passed on she loved you, thought of you, and honored you just the same. Her family was the joy of her heart, hymns brought her to tears, her Bible was her constant companion, her church of was her place of worship and refuge, and her Sunday school group offered fellowship and strength. After almost 97 years of life on earth, she now knows the joy of meeting her Heavenly Father face to face and reuniting with those she has missed for so long. We celebrate Edith—with us always in our hearts.

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Edith O. Price

May 24, 1920 - May 6, 2017