David Leo Edwards passed away at home on 14 Dec 2007 after a brief illness. He was born in Jos, Nigeria, on 19 Mar 1956, to Daniel and Myrtle Edwards, and lived most of his childhood in Nigeria. He and his sis­ter Rachel attended Kent Academy, which he said helped prepare him for the rigors and challenges of West Point life. He moved to Cleveland, OH, in 1969, where the boy from Africa spent the coldest Ohio winter in decades bundled in his ski jacket all through the school day. The following year, his family moved to Omaha, NE, where he graduated from Benson High School and established himself as a diehard Cornhuskers fan.

He entered West Point in July 1974 and was assigned to Company B-3 for his first two years and F-4 for his Cow and Firstie years. While in F-4, he was tagged with the nick­name “Pops,” because he looked a little older and acted more mature than the rest his class­mates. Dave was so comfortable in his skin that he quickly embraced his new moniker and took to signing notes—and in later life emails—with his adopted nickname. All four classes referred to him as “Pops” and did so with great affection. He always could be relied upon for his sage and heartfelt advice. He took his participation in company intramurals very seriously and prided himself in his physical fit­ness. He was no stranger to the weight room and could handle a barbell as well as anyone in the company. He excelled in physical activities such as wrestling and soccer.

Dave aced the PE formal wrestling cur­riculum during Plebe year and dominated in­formal wrestling matches with B-3 classmates in Eisenhower barracks on the weekends. On a Saturday night, the sound of furniture scrap­ing across the floor and the labored scuffle of people inside someone’s room testified that Dave was pinning one of us for another win.

Pops was noted for his soccer skills, and several classmates remember watch­ing Pops during Yearling year playing in the Regimental soccer finals on a cool autumn night at Doubleday field. The bleachers were packed, and Pops played spectacularly dur­ing the game, moving the ball skillfully and aggressively around his opponents to assist his team to victory. We learned later that Pops de­veloped his soccer skills while growing up in different parts of Nigeria during his parents’ missionary service.

Pops’ quiet confidence was also evident in the academic arena. Dave was a “Star” man for a couple of semesters and always generous with his time when classmates needed help on their physics or chemistry assignments. He was generally everyone’s first choice for help, because he never made you feel as if you were imposing on him, no matter what the hour.

Pops did not judge others, and always was willing to share his time and talents so that others could benefit from his abilities. He had a quick wit and enjoyed a good laugh, even if it was at his own expense. Going to special in­spections Plebe year with Dave was always an adventure. One day, Dave attempted to craft a plausible answer to a question posed by his squad leader, who quickly became impatient and got in his face saying (then yelling) “IRP” over and over (which meant “immediate re­sponse, please”). Dave somehow had missed that acronym during beast barracks, so he im­provised by belting out “IRP Sir!” which, as one can imagine, set off a whole new chain of events.

When Dave attended Jungle School in Panama, his squad was running late on the night land navigation course. All the points had been located except one, but there wasn’t enough time to backtrack to that point and finish on time. It wasn’t possible to cover that much ground at night through the jungle. Everyone was resigned to the fact that the squad would have to repeat the course when Dave confidently announced that he could get us there. Pops spent some time under a poncho with a red filter flash­light and used his knowledge of geometry and trigonometry to translate the directions into azimuths and distances, enabling the squad to navigate directly to the missing point and then to the finish point to submit their scorecard on time.

Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the Signal Corps and served in several stateside assignments, including Ft. Gordon, GA, Ft. Hood, TX, Ft. Sill, OK, and the Pentagon. He transitioned into civilian life after eight years in the Army and worked for the MITRE Corporation. His final position was as a group leader and network systems engineer. By the end of his career, he was the go to guy for all things related to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), having been involved in much of the architecture design, funding, and testing over a dozen years or so. He was proud of the fact that the project he worked on so diligently for years enabled President Bush to communicate with decision makers around the country after the tragic events on 11 Sep 2001.

He married Sherrill Jones in April 1987 and was “father” to three special canines who gave him an opportunity to put his Army training expertise to use and accompanied him on numerous walks in the woods and on the beach through the years.

It is truly remarkable that someone with such an unassuming presence is remem­bered with such great affection and is genu­inely admired and respected by everyone he met. He was so talented and smart and always willing to help and share with oth­ers. We are sorry to hear he left this world so soon but know he left behind many who were inspired by him.

He is remembered with love by his wife, his mother, and his sister, as well as many nieces and nephews, in-laws, friends, and class­mates who enjoyed and benefitted from his wit, his love for sports, his sharp mind, his devotion to God, and his kind heart.

—Sherrill C.J. Edwards and classmates