Deceased October 8, 2022
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In Memory
George Edmonds died Oct. 8, 2022, at his home in North Andover, Mass., after a long battle with cancer. Born in Wyomissing, Pa., George excelled in high school academically and was a fine athlete, good at team sports such as baseball, as well as individual sports such as track, where he won state honors in the broad jump. George’s athletic versatility and academic prowess continued at Amherst, where he played freshman soccer and tennis, majored in American studies and graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
To meet the military service requirement, George enlisted in the U.S. Army and served overseas in counterintelligence. Then he embarked on a lifelong dedication to teaching, earning his M.Ed. at Harvard and handling teaching stints at Governor Dummer and Thayer academies.
In 1959 he married Patricia Hope (MHC), also an English teacher. In 1961, they moved to Phillips Andover, where George joined the English department, assuming housemaster and coaching duties. Their first son was born that year (on George’s birthday), and their second son in 1964. For 20 years, George taught English and oversaw Andover’s search-and-rescue team, canoeing program and outing club. He also coached soccer and squash!
In 1981, George began another phase of his career, starting and leading school volunteer programs. He began by taking Phillips students to volunteer at the Lawrence Boys Club, then progressed to leading over 600 volunteers in 17 public schools.
After George and Pat retired in 1995, they read and traveled extensively. George wrote and published three books on the history of Wyomissing. When they moved to the Edgewood community in North Andover, George continued his passion of building and maintaining trails in the woodlands. Ever the path maker.
George is survived by Pat; their sons, Tom (Ann) and Geoff (Colleen); and three grandsons.
The Edmonds family and Rich Gray ’53