Elizabeth Edwards

Birth Name:

Mary Elizabeth Anania

Birth Date:

July 3, 1949

Birth Place:

Jacksonville, Florida

Death Date:

December 7, 2010

Place of Death:

1201 Old Greensboro Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Age:

Cause of Death:

Metastatic breast cancer

Cemetery Name:

Oakwood Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

The Odd and the Interesting

During a lifetime of idyllic successes and crushing reverses, Elizabeth Edwards was an accomplished lawyer, the mother of four children and the wife of a wealthy, handsome senator with sights on the White House. But their 16-year-old son was killed in a car crash, cancer struck her at age 55, the political dreams died and, within months, her husband admitted to having had an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer. The scandal over the affair faded after his disclosure in 2008. But in 2009, Mrs. Edwards resurrected it in a new book and interviews and television appearances, telling how her husband had misrepresented the infidelity to her, rocked their marriage and spurned her advice to abandon his run for the presidency. Eventually John Edwards admitted he had fathered a child with the staffer. Soon afterward, he and Mrs. Edwards separated legally. Her story and John Edwards subsequent charges of campaign finance violations involving his mistress to the tune of $900,000 was fodder for tabloids for the better part of a year. Elizabeth Edwards gravesite is one of the top most-visited memorials at historic Oakwood Cemetery.

There’s More To The Story

Mrs. Edwards had always been a dominant figure in her husband’s political life. Often called his closest adviser and surrogate, she reviewed his television advertisements and major speeches, helped pick his lieutenants, joined internal debates over tactics and strategy, and sometimes dressed down, or even forced out, campaign aides she thought had failed her husband. A scathing portrait of Mrs. Edwards’s political role, based on unnamed sources, was presented in “Game Change,” a book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. This badly written and reviewed tome died a quick death.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Oakwood Cemetery

701 Oakwood Avenue

Raleigh, North Carolina, 27601

USA

North America

Map:

Map of historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina

Grave Location:

Section Forrest, Division B, Lot 2, Grave 2

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery stay to the right and make your way to the center of the cemetery and park at the intersection of Sycamore Avenue and Maple Avenue. Walk the sort distance down Sycamore Avenue to the beautiful memorial to Elizabeth Edwards and her son Wade Edwards.