Irrussell Williams - Edwards

“My Aunt Yankee”                 My Aunt Yankee was the runt of the litter.   She was the littlest thing in the family, but she had the biggest presence.  She was funny, kind, and friendly. She was generous and warm.  She was an original free-thinker, an educated woman who graduated from Marvell High School and held degrees from Lakeland College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  She was a quirky little woman who talked a lot and saved everything. She was brave and courageous like “the little engine that could.”  She was determined, a firebrand, a trailblazer. She didn’t mince words. She called a spade, a spade; a jack, a jack; and many times she called all of us jokers.  Some people said she was mean. I say that she was direct, outspoken, and opinionated.  If she carried a torch for you, she was all for you or the opposite. She did not waste time on gray areas.  Huh…did I tell you that she was the littlest, but the biggest?  She loved life. She loved her family. Speaking of family…             My Aunt Yankee, Irrussell Williams-Edwards, was born on April 24, in the year of our Lord 1958, to my granddaddy, Arufus “Russell” Williams and my grandma, Eva Mae Eady-Williams. They both preceded her in death. She has some sisters, a brother, and a husband and children. There was Aunt Toto, Ophelia Williams, who like my grands, preceded her in death. There’s Aunt Daisy (Lawrence) Hill of New Albany, MS; Uncle Cliff (Mary Ann) and my mother, Brenda, of Marvell, AR; and my baby-aunt, Aunt Carolyn (Myrna) of Lewisville, TX.  Aunt Yankee has a whole host of cousins, nephews, nieces—me included, friends and loved ones that are too many to name, but they are still a part of our family, the family of Christ. Speaking of the family of Christ…             More recently, Aunt Yankee often spoke of her memories of Old Mt. Everett Church, where she first confessed a hope in and united with Christ.  Later, my Aunt Yankee was united in holy matrimony to a man out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, my uncle, Larry Edwards.  They were fortunate, or maybe not, to have six (6) boys:  Steven, Van, Erick, Derrick, Phillip, all of Milwaukee, WI; and Samuel Marques of Little Rock, AR. On Thursday, December 17, in the year of our Lord 2020, my Aunt Yankee got the call.  Our Father told her to come home.