Edith Oderkirk JamesEdith Oderkirk James was born on January 4th, 1932 to Galen and Ida (Andersen) Oderkirk, in Lafayette, Indiana. She grew up with her 3 sisters (Alice, Jane and Judy) in the wonderful college town of West Lafayette, where she attended high school and graduated from Purdue University in 1953, with a B.S. in Home Economics. After graduation, she went to work for General Electric in Danville, Illinois, where she met the love of her life, Ben James Jr. He took one look at her beautiful big brown eyes, and boy, that was it! After a courtship filled with love and hot fudge sundaes, they were married on August 2nd, 1958.  She had 5 children starting in 1959 and (finally!) in 1966, deciding that perfection was too hard to achieve, said "5 is enough". The 5 kids made her life wonderful AND miserable, usually at the same time. Finally, after about 15 years of this, she had had enough of the absolute joys of motherhood and decided to go back to work.  She went to work at the local pet store, where she developed a love for aquariums and watching fish (which was very calming after the joys of motherhood).  After her stint at the pet store, she went to work for the Infernal (whoops) Internal Revenue Service, where as a tax examiner, she struck fear into the hearts of would be tax cheats nationwide.  She had a love of puzzles of all types, and her job at IRS helped satisfy her desire to figure things out.  She was a voracious reader, and her bookshelves were always full to overflowing.  A lifelong Atlanta Braves fan, no one wanted to be the one who interrupted her during a game! She was a great bridge player and bowler, and between conversations actually got some bridge and bowling done! She and Ben also had a great love of being out on the water, both lake and ocean.  They owned many boats over the years, all of them named "Real Butter".  Ask anyone who knew her well, and you would know that "margarine" was considered a dirty word in the James household!  As Ben and Edi grew older, they decided that the Georgia coast (where Ben grew up) was the place that they wanted to retire.  They bought a house in Shellman Bluff, Georgia, and enjoyed all of the wonderful things the area had to offer, and put up with the not-so-wonderful things, too (mosquitoes, gnats, armadillos, etc., and sometimes their children).  Edi had 4 grandchildren who loved her dearly, and Daniel, Kate, Sam and Hunter loved coming to visit and talk with Grandma. Edi wasn't a native of Georgia, but after 50 plus years living here, she loved it.  Edi passed away peacefully on April 13th, 2017. All of her family loved her dearly, quirks and all - they made her the wonderful person that she was.  She is so missed already - and we all hope that they have Pralines and Cream in Heaven! Edi is survived by her adoring husband of almost 59 years, Ben, all her children (Ben III of Hiawassee, Ga., Victoria Parker (Richard) of Colorado Springs, Co., Ida Parkerson of New Haven, Ct., Galen of Monroe, Ga., and Eva James of Shellman Bluff, Ga.) and grandchildren, her sisters Jane and Alice, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. She was absolute joy to be with, and will be missed by all who knew her.A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.