ROCKINGHAM — After health problems made it impossible for Councilwoman Anne Edwards to serve on the council, Mayor John Hutchinson asked the Rockingham City Council to vote on whether to accept her retirement.
Before unanimously accepting Edwards’ letter of resignation, Hutchinson and several other council members asked the public to pray for her recovery. The council then began the search for Edwards’ replacement.
When I write this letter to Mayor John Hutchinson, I truly feel terrible about it. The state of my health has made it so that I can’t do my job as a city council member anymore.
So, I’m sending you my letter of resignation from my job. “I thank you for your support and the chance to serve the people of Rockingham,” Hutchinson said as he read Edwards’ retirement letter to the council.
Before he was elected, Hutchinson asked anyone living in Rockingham who wanted to serve to send a letter of interest to Monty Crump, the city manager. Then, Crump would give the letter to the current city council to look over. After that, he would choose the person who was interested and have them fill out Edwards’ last term.
“We were all very aware that Anne’s health was getting worse.” Her skills are very limited right now. When we saw her husband come in, he helped her out a bit. He later got a very bad form of Alzheimer’s and died two weeks ago. Anne thought this was the best thing ever… Woman on the Council Denise Sullivan asked people to pray for her.
In 2015, Edwards became a member of the City Council after Travis Billingsley quit because he had to move to Atlanta for a job. In 2019, she came in third place out of five candidates for three seats, with 455 votes, behind Councilman Deane Bennett’s 537 and Mayor Hutchinson’s 508.
“Anne is a good person and did a good job for this council.” Before she quit her job, she worked for Pee Dee Electric. She always had a lot to say and was a good spokesperson for them.
A few years ago, she fell and it looked like that was the start of her decline. Anne is not in very good health right now if you see her. Please pray for her with us. A councilman named Eugene Willard said, “She’s kind of fighting.”