Posted by John "JD" Clark on June 19, 2009:

I had received an email from Rod's wife on the 16th of this week that totally blew me away with disbelief. Over the years I had successfully avoided any class reunions, maintaining contact with only a few classmates. March of this year on a Sunday I received a phone call from Rod who was my roommate twice in Co. H2. We chatted, shared some memories and this corporate attorney "sold" me, a salesman, on the fact that I had missed out all these years on NOT attending class reunions. Needless to say, the very next day I signed up/sent money to attend the 30th. Rod was going into the hospital that week for an operation for sleep apnea and would be "off" from work at Sanofi Adventis for 2 weeks. We corresponded a couple more times via email. I was very much looking forward to seeing Rod at the Reunion this Sept. The following are some excerpts on how I choose to remember Rod Edmonds... Rod and I talked a few months back about cars and I mentioned that I bought a Porsche and he said that "was his dream car". Well, I thought to myself, that would be a drop in the bucket for an attorney; then remembered that Rod was frugal. In fact, while most of us took advantage of the 2% loan to buy our cars at WP, he went out and bought an old green Olds Cutlass! Rod was an audiophile who bought a set of Klipsch speakers and spent a lot of time staining/refinishing them winter of Cow yr. Now, these speakers weren't cheap but for some reason he had them in the back of that Cutlass and someone broke in and stole them! He took some of that money he DIDN'T spend on a new car Firstie yr. and bought a new set of Klipsch Heresy speakers (handmade in Hope, Ark/Rod was very proud of that fact)! I always remembered those Klipsch speakers and bought a set too from the PX while a 2nd Lt. in Germany which I still have to this day. Being the President/CIC of the Derelectic, I mean Dialectic Society had its perks for Rod (besides the obvious). First Class year Rod had a phone in our room that could receive/make long distance calls! That was huge in 1978. On occasion, Rod would let me take calls from the "honeys" from the comfort of the barracks. A very big perk that I got from being his roommate! If you Google Rodney Edmonds, you will see his name on "classmates.com" and can view a really nice picture of him and his brother Greg (his spitting image/ affectionately nicknamed "little Rod") at a Mt. View, Ark. class reunion. The photo is just how I remember him! Greg went 2 yrs at West Point and as Rod told me in March, graduated college in TX. and went on to become very successful with BP! Being a "goat", all my roommates had the misfortune of having to give me some AI at night with my studies which I am sure cut into their time. Rod did this cheerfully, although sometimes begrudgingly, on many occasions! This was the penance for being my roommate. I remember Junior yr. we all took Constitutional Law and it was a course that Rod thoroughly enjoyed. No wonder, then, that law became his chosen profession after the service. Those of you who knew Rod realized that he had the knack of meeting and dating good looking women.. (no offense, of course to Renel). There was one weekend that we had a function going on Senior yr. and Rod asked up to WP a beautiful southern girl named Gail. As the story goes he met her in Dothan, Al during his flight school orientation boondoggle he attended summer after Cow yr. Those of us who met her stood around like idiots staring at this poor girl with our mouths open wondering "how does he do it??" Of course, Rod took great relish in seeing how we reacted to this new scenery! This is how I choose to remember Rod Edmonds. Rod was a true southern gentleman with an infectious personality that by anyone's standards made a success out of his life. I do not know the reason why we will not see him again in this life; but I do know that we cannot comprehend some of life's burdens he may have been carrying. I do know that quite a few years back Rod made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. This gives me and hopefully his classmates, friends and family comfort in knowing where Rod is today. God Bless you Rod; you were truly a "class act"!

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