Edison Dale Jeffus

Edison Dale Jeffus returned to his heavenly father on April 8, 2015, after passing peacefully in his home. He was a man of principle and passion, forged by a deep and abiding faith in his Lord, Jesus Christ.

Edison was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, to the late Daniel Myron & Mary Edith Pace Jeffus. He was the second child of five children. Myron worked for the Post Office and Edith stayed home with the children. Edison spent many summers in his ancestral home of Camden, Arkansas. He and his brother Danny would roam the woods with their grandfather and uncles, hunting, fishing, and developing a passion for an active lifestyle.

Edison was an excellent (if sometimes willful) student at Texarkana High School. He participated in many activities, including the football team, as an end, and in the school band, where he played the French horn. He was also the first person to earn the rank of Eagle Scout in his Boy Scout troop. After graduation he attended Magnolia A&M, where he would begin the scientific training that influenced the rest of his life.

With the outbreak of World War II, Edison enlisted and began training as a weatherman. After basic training, he spent time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he learned advanced weather forecasting. He was deployed to the 388th Bombardment Group of the 8th Army Air Corp, where he served in Knettishall, England, UK, and then in Paris, France. He separated from the military as a Captain in the Army Air Corp.

He returned home to Texarkana and met the love of his life, Audrey Faye Foster. The two were married on February 2nd, 1947. Two days later they moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Edison graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry.

After graduation Edison accepted a position with the Shell Oil Company, and the young couple moved to Norco, Louisiana, where they experienced great joy and tragedy. They were blessed with twins, Linda and Brenda, in 1949, but were tested deeply by the loss of Brenda. With their faith and their family to comfort them, the family pressed on to Wilmington, Delaware, where Edison accepted a position in the Petroleum Chemicals Division of the DuPont Corporation. They were blessed with their son, Dale, in 1952.

Over the years the Jeffuses moved with the times to Houston, Texas, back to Delaware, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then briefly back to Houston before retiring in Tulsa. Edison achieved the position of Regional Technical Manager of the Tulsa Laboratory for DuPont. He retired in 1984 with just over 34 years with DuPont. He received many accolades during his career and was invited to join the prestigious Society of Automotive Engineers.

Throughout the moves the family made time for camping adventures, late-night hands of bridge, and regular pilgrimages back to Southeastern Oklahoma and Southwestern Arkansas. Edison worked hard, but always made time for his children and his faith, including serving for two years as the chairman of the Pastor-Parrish Relations Committee of Newhaven United Methodist Church in Tulsa.

In retirement he was a doting husband, father and grandfather to seven grandchildren. He continued to learn throughout his life, devoting his time and intellectual vigor to genealogy, geology, meteorology, and more, including the daily crossword puzzle.

Edison is survived by his daughter, Linda Bare and her husband James D. Bare, Jr.; his son, Dr. E. Dale Jeffus Jr. and his wife Janice Jeffus; his grandchildren Jennifer Temple, James D. Bare III and his wife Emily, Brenda Johnson, Kane Jeffus, Gabriel Jeffus, Logan Jeffus, and Luke Jeffus; his great-granddaughter Vivienne Bare; and his sister and brother in-law Nita and Joe Talbert. He was preceded in death by his wife, Audrey Faye Foster Jeffus; his parents, Daniel Myron and Mary Edith Jeffus; his sisters Hazel Furlow and Wanda Jeffus; his brother Danny Jeffus; and his daughter Brenda.

Services will be held at the Schaudt-Teel Funeral Home in Southeast Tulsa at 2:00pm on April 11. Rev. Jane Brigden-Graham will officiate.

Edison Jeffus will be buried in the Bethesda Cemetery just outside of Camden, Arkansas, at 3:00pm on April 13.