Within days of her friend’s death, Trish Skuse Cadwallader ’76 received permission to search her condo.
She scoured the Columbus, Ohio, residence looking for a laptop that contained a manuscript belonging to her former sorority sister, Kirsten Edwards ’77.
Edwards had been a successful attorney for decades, but in 2017 she devoted herself completely to one of her greatest passions. She earned her master’s degree in English from Ohio State University at a time when most her age were counting the days to retirement. She also taught courses in creative writing at Ohio State.
As part of her master’s thesis, Edwards wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, Up On Cedar Mesa. Her sorority sisters knew how much the book meant to her.
“Kris was such a dynamic person, and there were so many dimensions to her life,” Cadwallader said. “She loved to write, and when she finished her book, we kept asking when she was going to publish it.”
A recurrence of breast cancer — Edwards was initially diagnosed in 2016 — altered her timetable and priorities. She died in 2022 without ever seeing her novel in print.
That’s when her friends from Denison got involved. They were determined to shepherd the project to completion. They also dedicated themselves to honoring Edwards’ memory by establishing an endowed scholarship fund to ensure future Denisonians could pursue their love of creative writing.
All they needed was the blessing of her mother, Mary Jo Edwards, who happily granted it.
“I was thrilled, but I wasn’t surprised,” Edwards’ mother said. “Because Kris was a part of a group that would do anything for each other.”
Denison is a place that fosters connections — and friendships that last a lifetime. Sometimes beyond.
Denison friends said Kirsten Edwards ’77 wanted to make a difference. “She was a striver,” said Carol Lovell Carmody ’77.
‘One tough cookie’
Carol Lovell Carmody ’77 met Edwards in the fall of 1973 as her assigned roommate in Sawyer Hall. They joined Kappa Alpha Theta, and their circle of friends expanded to include Cadwallader, Diane Prine Stewart ’77, and Jane Norton Keating ’77.
They studied together and partied together and came of age alongside one another. They all recognized special qualities in Edwards.
“Kris was such an interesting person,” Carmody said. “She was very attractive and smart as a whip, and she wanted to do stuff that made a difference. She was a striver.”
Edwards earned a law degree from Wake Forest University and began her career as an attorney. She practiced corporate law and, by her friends’ accounts, hated almost every day of it. Edwards changed her focus and found her sweet spot representing clients with environmental concerns.
She loved nature and animals and loathed anything made of plastic. She traveled the country, living in New York, Utah, and New Mexico before returning to her native Columbus.
But Edwards felt most at home behind a keyboard, where she had been writing short stories throughout her days as an attorney and small business owner. She felt so at peace working on her novel at Cadwallader’s Buckeye Lake cottage that her friend gave Edwards a key and asked only that she lock up when leaving.
Not even the hardships and uncertainties of cancer could dull her enthusiasm and writing ambitions.
“I kept some of her student reviews,” said her sister Kathleen Edwards Rose. “One student wrote, ‘Her dog died, she has cancer, and she still showed up to every class. She’s one tough cookie.’”
Kathleen Edwards Rose and her mother, Mary Jo Edwards, in front of a tribute to Kirsten Edwards ’77. The inscription is written by Jack Edwards, the brother of Kirsten and Kathleen.
‘An unbelievable gift’
Unable to read Up On Cedar Mesa because of her failing eyesight, Mary Jo Edwards invited the author over to read it aloud.
Over the course of several days, mother and daughter sat together as Edwards painted vivid images of the rugged Southwest landscape that serves as the story’s backdrop.
“I loved it,” Mary Jo Edwards said.
When Edwards’ breast cancer returned and spread to other parts of her body, family and friends were stunned by its aggressiveness.
“We thought we had more time, and I think Kris thought the same,” her sister said. “We were at a loss, just treading water after her death. When her friends at Denison swooped in and told us of their plans, it really meant something to the family.”
Cadwallader educated herself on self-publishing, and Carmody, a former associate vice president of financial affairs at Boston University, took the lead in establishing a scholarship in Edwards’ name.
With the assistance of Cadwallader, Stewart, and Keating, the group raised $250,000 for the Kirsten D. Edwards ’77 Endowed Scholarship Fund for Creative Writing at Denison.
The first recipient, Lucy Dale ’27, met Edwards’ mother on a Zoom teleconference in 2023.
“It was wonderful,” Mary Jo Edwards said. “Kris’ middle name is Dale and Lucy’s last name is Dale, which I thought was an interesting coincidence.”
Cadwallader asked friends Julie Peters, an editor, and Jodi Kennedy, a graphic designer, to help with the book. They agreed to work for free. Edwards’ academic advisor, Lee Martin, a distinguished professor of English at Ohio State, volunteered to write the foreword.
“I remember her dedication to her craft and the way she sat on the edge of her chair and leaned toward me with such intensity when she sought my advice when writing Up On Cedar Mesa,” Martin writes. “She wasn’t afraid to do the hard work. She had a story to tell, and she wanted to make it ours, so we’d know the world the way she knew it. What greater gift can a writer make?”
Up on Cedar Mesa explores the intertwining forces of love and nature. The main character, Micah, a young woman drawn to the wild beauty of Utah and New Mexico, finds herself torn between her professional commitments in New York and her love for an adventurous man who’s dedicated to preserving the West.
The book has been released, and is available on Amazon. Everyone who contributed to the scholarship fund will receive a copy.
“It’s an unbelievable gift made possible by the bond Kris had formed with her friends at Denison,” Mary Jo Edwards said. “That’s where she wanted to go from the time she was in high school, and this is a reminder of what a special place it is.”
