Edmund Lee Wadhams, March 21, 2018

From the Chestnut Hill Local:

Edmund Lee Wadhams, 70, of Onancock VA, died on March 21 of natural causes. He was born in Philadelphia, July 6, 1947, to the late Genevieve Newbold Lee and the late Albion James Wadhams, Jr.

He was the grandson of Ellen Newbold and Charles Smith Lee, Marcia Elizabeth Hand and Albion James Wadhams. He is survived by his half-sister Katherine W. Cox, (Charles), of Haverford PA, and her mother, step sister Nina S. Talbot (James), of Plymouth Meeting PA, and step brother William L. E. Sinkler Jr. (Fran.) of Charlestown RI. He also leaves behind many cousins and friends. He was well loved and will be sorely missed.

He attended Chestnut Hill Academy, graduated from St. Mark’s and Yale. He was a direct descendant of Richard Henry Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Ned loved the arts.  He could not resist throwing in a reference to an apt line from a play, film or book to illustrate the point he was making.

He traveled widely, often in the company of friends and his beloved dog.

Interment private. Contributions in his name may be made to Penn Vet Working Dog Center, 3800 Spruce St. Phila PA 19104, or, Eastern Shore SPCA 26528 Lankford Hwy, Onley VA 23418.

From his friend, William Clay Howe:

Ned was a graduate of the class of 1969 at Yale, the last all-male undergraduate class at Yale. I was in the class of 1968. I knew him through the “Yale Dramat”, as the Yale Dramatic Association” was known. He was a participating member of the Dramat, and among other accomplishments, he had a role in the World English Language Première of Eugène Ionesco’s “Hunger and Thirst” on the Yale University Stage. He was in Pierson College, very close to the Dramat, and was a member of Zeta Psi Fraternity. He worked for at least one summer at the French Language School/Camp, “École Acadie” in Bar Harbor, Maine, where my wife Simone Germann Howe, Simone’s sister Catherine and Simone’s mother Madeleine also worked. Later I learned that the sister of my sister’s French teacher also worked at the École Acadie! Finally, years ago he became a good friend of my parents’ dear friend Françoise Hodès Cramois, now living in Luxembourg. On September 11th, 2001, Françoise was so concerned about Ned’s welfare (the circuits to New York from Europe were all busy), that she called me in Connecticut to ask if I had news of him! All of that is proof that it is “a small world after all”. All those who had the good fortune of meeting Ned will miss him very much indeed.

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  1. I knew Ned, not well, in Pierson. The memories that come to mind are of his hands, in gestures, extravagant and free yet hateful and measured. I could not say that much about his speech – not much was said, much left to the imagination. I want to know more.