Thursday, October 6, 2022
Ed was my closest friend for the last 20 years. We worked together for 5 years at Indianola Academy and 10 years at Washington School. We worked together as track coaches; he coached my daughter Chris and my wife Felicia assisted him in coaching basketball at Washington School. He was the toughest and at the same time the most religious man I ever met. He always prayed before he ate, never sat with his back to the door, and would not eat cornbread with sugar in it, He would say if i wanted cake i would have asked for cake. I know these things because I had lunch with him everyday for 15 years. We must have made a 1,000 trips on old busses for basketball and track over the years, many times just he and I would be on the bus coming home late riding for hours talking about anything to stay awake. If Ed thought a kid did not have money to buy something at the concession stand. he would give them money, but he did not anyone to know. I saw him do this countless times. Ed had a deep sense of humor that only his close friends new about. He knew I was afraid of snakes so he bought a rubber snake from somewhere (he must have planned this for weeks) and put it under the drivers door of my truck and waited to watch me get in. I ran tripped and fell down and he laughed the rest of that day. Ed meant so much to me and my family along with the countless lives here in the Mississippi Delta he has touched. In the past week I have thought of so many good tomes that we shared, and it seems every day another will pop into my mind I had forgotten about. I am so thankful that God allowed Ed to be part of my life. I know for sure he is in heaven now looking down on us, probably still laughing at me.
Jack Suddoth
