Joan was born in London, England, and moved to the United States at the age of four to live in New Orleans. She married James F. Edwards in 1937, moving with him to Huntington. After various business ventures including the purchase of four race tracks and racing horses in the United States, Canada, England and Ireland, Joan adopted Huntington as her own.
She became CEO of NAMCO, the family mattress business. During the 1990s, Edwards made substantial monetary contributions to Marshall University to support medical school scholarships, athletics, the performing arts, and a new jazz studies program. Her 1993 contribution to the athletics program was, at that time, the largest single gift in Marshall’s history. She also gifted funds to build, equip and endow a nature conservatory at the Huntington Museum of Art, where varieties of trees and other plants are displayed.
We may never be able to truly measure the impact that her generosity has had in the Huntington area and how much it will continue to have on the lives of students and our community in the future. Most of her community activities and contributions took place quietly and without fanfare.
