Talou Balch Edwards

Talou Balch Edwards, age 86, of Gatesville, passed away Thursday, December 1, 2016 at Scott and White Hospital in Temple. Memorial services are scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Saturday, January 21, 2017 at The First United Methodist Church of Gatesville. Talou was born on April 15, 1930 in Levita, Texas to the late Thomas Rabon Balch and Mabel Huckabee Balch. She grew up in Gatesville where she attended public schools and graduated from Gatesville High School in 1948. After graduating, Talou attended North Texas State University as an education major. While attending the university, she met the man who would be her future husband, Donald Dean Edwards, of Phillips, Texas. On September 1, 1951, Don and Talou married and began 54 happy years of marriage together. After graduating from college, they moved to the west Texas towns of Crane and Iraan, where they taught for four and a half years. In 1958, they began an adventurous time in their lives when they moved to South America to take teaching positions in private schools that were associated with American oil companies, living in the countries of Columbia and Peru until 1965. Talou considered this a very special time in the life of her family. They moved to Seguin, Texas in 1965 and then back to Gatesville, Texas in 1970, when they took jobs with the Gatesville school system. Talou was a woman of strong faith who was very committed to the Methodist Church throughout her life. As a child, she spent many summers attending Glen Lake Methodist Camp, a tradition she would pass on to her children and grandchildren. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Gatesville since 1970 and she found particular joy in teaching the Upper Room Sunday School Class, as well as serving as a delegate at annual conferences. Talou loved life and was loved by a widespread group of family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Don Edwards; and brother, James Balch. Talou is survived by her daughter, Amy Edwards and husband, Revis of Marble Falls; sons, Dean Edwards of Gatesville and Ben Edwards and wife, Phyllis of Chesapeake, VA; sister, Regina Baize and husband, James of Gatesville; grandchildren, John Stroder and wife, Nancy, Dean Stroder and wife, Veronica, Dorian Stroder, Hannah Edwards Wingfield and husband, Blake, Haley Morgan and husband, Jeremy, Matthew Edwards and wife, Kaylee, Rachel Hopson and husband, Paul; and five great-grandchildren, Kamryn, Donald, Hunter, Blake, and Leland; and many other extended family members. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The First United Methodist Church, 2600 E. Main Street, Gatesville, TX 76528.