Career
Born Joan Cavill in London, England, she moved to New Orleans at the age of four. By age 11, she was singing on New Orleans radio station WWL, the start of a musical career that included filming movie shorts, singing with orchestras, recording with Clyde McCoy and his Kentucky Band, and performing in New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago. While singing at Pittsburgh"s William Penn Hotel, she met James F. Edwards, owner and Chief Executive Officer of National Mattress Company (Namaco), whom she married in 1937.
Joan and James Edwards donated more than $65 million to Marshall University and the Huntington community.
She was the largest single donor to Marshall University in the modern era. Joan C. Edwards died on May 7, 2006 from liver cancer.
She spent the last few days of her life receiving treatment and care in the cancer center she helped to create, which is located in Huntington, West Virginia, at Cabell Huntington Hospital. Upon her death, the Joan C. Edwards Charitable Foundation was created in her name to help fund scholarships for medical school.
Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
Joan C. Edwards Stadium
Marshall University Jomie Jazz Center
Marshall University Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center
Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center
Joan C. Edwards Stadium is one of two National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football stadiums named after a woman.
The other is Williams-Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina named after Martha Williams-Brice.
