Tribute to
Edra Jean Files Gilchrist
by Warren Stoner
I first met Edra in about
1947 when we moved across the street from her family. Her
dad, Barney Files, owned and operated the Capital Garage and
Service Station, a Phillips 66 station, two blocks east of
Grand Street on North East Eighth (Amarillo Blvd.). They
lived on the north side of the street and we lived on the
south side. She was only a year old and I was two. I use to
go to her house, there were living quarters behind the
service station, to play. When the city moved the City
Limits out to the Fritch Highway, Barney sold the station and
moved further out the highway (7600 Amarillo Blvd. East) near
the old Trail Drive-In Theater. Edra and her brother,
Billy, attended Highland Park School while I went to Forrest
Hill. During the time that we lived across the street form
each other, both families formed strong bonds of friendship
that lasted for over Fifty years.
Even though we no longer
lived close, we continued to visit. As we grew she and I
also became friends and even dated some after she transferred
to PD. It was during our time at PD that I fell in love with
Edra but realized that it was the love for a friend not the
love for a mate. She married an Airman and I entered the U.
S. Navy. When I returned she had been widowed and was
raising her daughter Rhonda. She had gone to work for the
Tax Assessors office and I moved on trying to find my niche
in life. When I was home on leave or back in Amarillo to
visit family, I always dropped by to see Edra and her
family.
Edra attended W. T. and Texas
Tech then married and eventually divorced Terry Boatman.
Barney passed away from a heart attack, Billy had gone to
work for Eastman Kodak straight out of college and was living
in California. He was transferred to Pennsylvania. He and
Lynn, his wife, decided to let their children finish out the
school year in California before moving back east. Lynn and
the children were living in California and Billy was living
in Penn. Billy was flying home to visit his family for
Thanksgiving and was killed when his plane crashed on
takeoff from Chicago. All of this happened in a sort period
of time and left the remaining family devastated but Edra and
her mother were both strong women and found a way to
survive. Edra lived at home with her mother and they raised
Rhonda. She studied for and received her Realtors License.
Edra had to be one of the
most accident prone people I know. It seems that every time
I turned around, she had another serious auto accident. It
was during the recuperation period from one of her accidents
that she suffered a stroke which left her handicapped. She
incorporated this into her work and specialized in properties
that were especially suited for the handicapped. That's
just an example of her never ending fight to survive. As her
mother aged, Edra continued to live at home and care for her
mother until her death in, I believe, 2001.
Edra was a good friend, a
good mother and a loving, giving person whom I will miss
sorely. The world is a better place for her having lived
here and is a less beautiful place without her.
