Robert Christopher “Chris” Edson

Our brother, Chris, suffered a fatal heart attack on March 21, 2024, in his hometown of Beaumont, Texas. Chris was born in 1957, a year that calls to mind stylish automobile designs, Sputnik, Elvis Presley’s Graceland and President Eisenhower’s 2nd term. It was also the year that the Edson family moved from Magnolia Avenue to Clinton Drive. Chris’s birth, marking the 6^th child of Mamie and Ed Edson, Jr., jokingly earned a basketball trophy from family friend, Waldo Wilson, for completion of the boys’ team. Chris’s favorite sister, Missy Fisher, and the three surviving brothers, Richard, Johnny and Ed, have cherished memories of their baby brother. Chris was the apple of their eye and stood up well to their obligatory teasing.

Chris completed his primary education in Beaumont. He learned to hunt, fish, drive a car and he practiced the courtesy and grace of a well-bred southern boy. As required by some unwritten law, he fell through a tall tree and severely busted up his arm. When healed, Chris attended boarding school and achieved his degree in Arizona schools but returned to Texas to begin his life’s journey. He appreciated the importance of the advancing computer boom and learned the business from the actual construction and wiring of a motherboard to processing and sales. He began his own business and settled in Houston where he bought a fixer-upper in the Montrose neighborhood. Chris had a knack for carpentry, especially constructing sawhorses, which he built by the dozens.

Chris never married but given the chance to prove his mettle as a loving partner, he excelled. He seized the opportunity to be a stand-in father with passion and devotion, teaching two young men the values he learned as a boy. During that surrogacy, Chris was the ideal father figure, meeting, if not surpassing, his own upbringing.

Chris spent his summers at the legendary family beach house in Caplan on the Boliver Peninsula. It became his home and before Hurricane Ike blew it to smithereens, he enjoyed the solitude of a beach denizen. Chris soon built a new beach house on the same storied site. He loved fishing and playing golf with his buddies. When his mother fell ill, he was often at her bedside making sure she was happy and comfortable as her ending drew near. He jumped in and assisted in the family business and proudly helped out wherever it was needed. Several years back, Chris had his first coronary episode and with the help of Missy he bounced back. He didn’t survive the ambush in March, and we are lost without him.

As with the passing of our father, Edward Gilroy Edson, Jr., our mother, Mamie and our brother, Patrick, we wish to thank our extended family and dear friends for their heartfelt condolences. In his absence we, his survivors, hope to live our lives more mindful of the preciousness of family and of life from this moment on.

A celebration of life for Mr. Edson will be held at a later date. Arrangements were handled under the direction of Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont.