Edna Yaw, 92, was born September 1, 1917, in Elejay, Georgia. She was one of thirteen children born to Lenore and Napoleon Bates. As a child she enjoyed the life and freedom of the woods. She grew up on a farm. The family lived in a large home made from a train station. She remembered clipping the mail to a wire which was picked up by the passing train on a weekly basis. She remembered walking a long way to a one- room schoolhouse.  She also remembered prayer meetings and church services that she walked to with her Mama and siblings traveling many miles with singing and prayer.  

She met her husband Bud Yaw in Virginia Beach, Virginia. They met on New Year’s Eve 1942. They  married June 1, 1943. They built their life together raising five children. They moved from San Jose, California, to Michigan and back to California in 1960. They lived there until Bud passed away in 1998.  Edna then moved to Manteca where she lived out the rest of her life living  with her son Ted. She was closely connected to all her other children and grandchildren. She was a home-maker and also a caring and compassionate Certified Nursing Assistant. She gave many years of service to the community caring for the sick and elderly.

She lived a life of promise and hope. She displayed a great love and confidence in God. She long ago established a relationship with Christ Jesus that helped her through all that God had for her to live here on earth.  She  was loving and kind and she replicated Christ in her compassion for her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren alike. She was the matriarch of the family. Going about doing what she believed God had called her to do. She held her family together through all of life’s tragedies and triumphs. She was the soul of the family. She will be dearly missed.

 She was preceded in death by her grandsons, Philip Paul, Jesse Alexander , her husband Wilmore  “Bud”Yaw, her parents and many of her siblings
 She is survived by her sister Hazel (Emil) children Paul , Debra, Richard, Philip, Theodore Yaw spouses Christine, Mark, Nancy, Teri, grandchildren Paul, Jacob, Melissa Tommy, Kenny, Catherine, Shannon, Shari, Nicholas .Jennifer, Marissa; great-grandchildren William, Alana, Joseph, Mikayla, Madison, Malachi, Logan, Deven, and Gaven.

 Arrangements are under the  direction of P.L. Fry & Son Funeral Home. Celebration of Life  Service is Saturday, January 2, at 11 a.m. at Sequoia Heights Baptist Church, 1050 S. Union Road corner of Union Road and Wawona Avenue, Manteca. A reception to follow at Sequoia Heights Baptist Church. An online guestbook for condolences and special messages is available  at www.plfryandson.com.