THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604230147
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 221 lines
JOSEPH L. ``DEDE'' Edwards scratched his head, stared for a moment at a pink desk telephone shaped like a pig with push buttons in its belly and chuckled.
He was trying to recall when and where he arrived at a destination on a business trip and, while trying to rent a car, realized he had forgotten to have his driver's license renewed.
That one detail in his life may have been Edwards' first - and only - oversight.
A 66-year-old Isle of Wight County native, Edwards recently retired after 48 years with Smithfield Packing Co. He's retired, but this is how a typical day goes:
``I was up at 3 yesterday morning,'' he said. ``I went to a plant in Franklinville, N.C. Drove 232 miles there; 230 miles back. I came home, changed the oil in two lawn mowers - put a spark plug in one. And then, I cut grass for two hours.''
Finished with that, Edwards likely went out to the small office he recently completed behind his yellow brick home on Courthouse Highway - surrounded by a scenic mobile home park he designed and built in 1969 - and worked on organizing the papers from his past.
Those papers, bound neatly in thick loose-leaf binders, line bookshelfs: Smokehouse Info (NU)1; Smokehouse Info (NU)2; Sausage Specialties; Fat Back/Salt Pork Info; Country Ham History; County Ham Info; Boning and Slicing.
You could call it the complete library of information on picking, processing, packing and producing pigs and pork products - by ``Dede.'' That's the name he's best known by. It's left over from childhood, when, as the youngest of eight children, he loved to play with the family ducks.
Edwards never did anything half-way, he said, because he never had the opportunity. His son, Mark, calls him a ``workaholic.''
When Mark, his brother Joe and sister Karen were growing up, Mark recalled, whenever they asked for something, they often got more than they bargained for.
``I'll never forget the playground he built for us. A huge playground. Monkey bars. A see-saw. Everything.''
When his brother was playing tennis, Mark said, he asked his dad to build a small practice court. He ended up with a court professional enough to hold tournaments.
Edwards once built his sons a regulation pole-vaulting set-up. The youngsters also had the biggest tree house in the county.
``And you've never seen a garden until you've seen one he puts in,'' Mark Edwards said, chuckling.
It's not that the man known as ``Dede,'' as a loyal Redskins fan, a Rush Limbaugh devotee, and, in the annals of Smithfield Packing as a ``master sausage maker,'' wants to be bigger and better than anybody else. He knows no other way to do it, his son said.
That, the senior Edwards said, is because he got started early and always had reason to keep going.
``I have always loved my job, always loved what I do. And I am so grateful for my family.''
When one of his children asked him what life was like when he was a child, Edwards wrote his autobiography.
``I was born on March 4, 1930, in Isle of Wight County, Va., and have lived within three miles of the courthouse all my life. Living conditions were very difficult in the early and middle '30s for my parents. My father was killed in an automobile accident near Windsor in 1932.''
Edwards, in his life's story, explains that he started working when he was 5, walking behind a fertilizer sower pulled by a black and white spotted horse named Tony.
At 7, he was earning 5 cents a day by walking to the courthouse each morning to pick up a gallon of milk for a neighbor. He had a second job of splitting wood and carrying it into the house for another neighbor, another 5 cents a day. On Saturdays, he worked in a neighbor's vegetable garden - three hours for 25 cents.
At age 10, he went into business for himself, shining shoes in Smithfield. He moved quickly from the street into Tatum's Barbershop. Later, he worked in a small store on Smithfield's main street.
At 13, he made, even to this day, one of his most memorable business associations when he started working for storeowner W.D. Joyner, also a peanut buyer. Edwards went to work from 4 p.m. until 9:30 or 11 Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturdays for $14 a week. His salary also included a house where he and his mother lived. By that time, his older brothers and sisters had left home. The little boy named ``Dede'' was the man of the house.
Edwards worked for Joyner until he was 18 and, as a handsome young man with wavy, light brown hair and a broad smile, was one of four graduates in 1948 from Isle of Wight High School.
In appearance and in work ethics, he changed little over the years.
He went to work for Smithfield Packing after his high school principal suggested the company had a bright future and offered to talk to Joseph W. Luter Jr. about the ambitious and hard-working young man.
Soon after he started working for the packing plant for 75 cents an hour, Edwards married ``a high-kicking, pretty majorette at Suffolk High School,'' Carolyn.
``I thumbed to work every day,'' Edwards recalled. ``I couldn't go to college, so I read every book I could find about meat. Times were tough, so before I'd finished with one job, I'd be looking for something else to do in another department so I could make overtime.''
That way, Edwards learned equipment, processes and people in every department of the Smithfield operation. Over the years, with a five-year stint at Gwaltney from 1972-77, where he started the continuous hot-dog operation, Edwards moved through the plants from shoveling meat and peeling hot dogs by hand to plant manager at the Norfolk-based sausage and processing plant in Berkley when he retired.
At Smithfield Packing, everybody knows the friendly man called ``Dede,'' personnel director Herb DeGroft said.
``He is one fantastic person,'' DeGroft said. ``He is a walking encyclopedia. He's always been proud of his people, and he has worked with them to make sure they had everything necessary to do a job well and right. If I ever had a business, by God, I'd want a `Dede' Edwards on my team. If everybody today had his work ethics, this would be one hell of a world! And if every manager we had was a `Dede,' this would be a hundred billion dollar a year company.''
One of the neatest things about Edwards, as a man, DeGroft said, is his ability to accept others just as they are and his assumption that others will do the same for him.
``There are no airs - `Dede' is `Dede,' '' DeGroft said.
He's a Redskins fan. During a videotaped, last plant tour he took in Berkley just before his retirement party, Edwards was greeted by employees wearing shirts and hats emblazoned with the Dallas Cowboys' emblem. He laughed, hugged or shook hands with each one.
``You've always been my favorite,'' he told them, one by one.
As a retirement gift, his people gave him a book: ``Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot!'' by Al Franken. He hasn't read the book yet, hasn't had time, but he will.
``He's just a nice guy,'' said Tom Ross, Smithfield's vice president of human resources. ``He's very friendly, very caring for everybody he comes in contact with. `Dede' is home-grown.''
Throughout the meat-packing industry, Ross and DeGroft agreed, Edwards' knowledge and expertise is recognized. And nothing has ever been too much of a challenge.
``About a year ago, they wanted some chorizo made,'' Edwards recalled. ``That's Mexican sausage. They wanted something they could sell in Texas. I told them to get what they wanted, and I'd duplicate it.''
Edwards worked in the test kitchens at his plant and the Smithfield plant until he came up with the perfect product. On one sausage he devised, Smithfield Premium, a low-fat sausage, his name is on the package as ``developed by master sausage-maker J.L. Edwards.''
When he first started thinking about retiring, Edwards said, he considered starting his own little meat-packing company with just a few products. He even started buying equipment a few years ago. But he listened to advice offered by George Hamilton, then-president of the company.
``They were having a problem with one of the products, and Mr. Hamilton called me in,'' Edwards said. `` `Dede, what would you do?' I told him exactly what a consultant they'd hired had told him. That's when he said, `Why don't you go into consulting?' ''
Hamilton, who since has retired, is certain Edwards will succeed in his new venture.
``He's very competent, very much a perfectionist in everything he does,'' Hamilton said.
Edwards doesn't believe he's out of the ordinary in any way. He credits his mother with teaching him to be honest and to love and appreciate others. He credits circumstances surrounding the way he grew up with his ability to work hard. And he credits the people he has worked with over the years with much of what he has accomplished.
``I've always felt I got my strength from the people I've worked with,'' Edwards said. ``I will always be appreciative of the Luter family for what they've done for this county and for me personally. I have loved it all so much.''
Edwards already has lined up four small meat-packing companies he intends to work with as a consultant. He swears he never would give away any of his own company's trade secrets. His loyalty always will be with the company that gave him, so many years ago, an opportunity to make a good living and take care of his family.
``I would never say a bad word against Smithfield Packing. The company has been so good to me.''
When he made the recent trip to another company in North Carolina, Edwards learned a new boning technique. The very next morning, he was back at his old plant in Norfolk, sharing the knowledge.
And anything else he learns, either in his new venture or in the small test kitchen he has built into his office at home - complete with two refrigerators, a range and giant-economy sized boxes and bottles of spices and condiments - most likely will be shared.
After all, he said, you just can't be a part of something for so many years and allow anything as simple as retirement to cut the ties.
``It's a good company,'' Edwards said. ``There are some good young people working there, and it's going to get better.''
Loyalty. Hope for the future. Hard work. Family.
It's a recipe for the good life from a master sausage maker. MEMO: COUNTRY-STYLE HAM COOKING\ (``Dede'' Edwards doesn't claim the
original idea for this method of cooking a country ham, but he does say
that he had tested and revised the original concept. The recipe comes
with a ``fail-safe'' guarantee.)
Wash - Wash ham in warm water and soak if desired. Then wash with
cloth or brush.
Bake - Place ham in container, skin side up, on rack. Add 10-11 cups
of water. Cover with lid or aluminum foil (folded to seal tight). Place
container in oven and set oven at 500 degrees. After this temperature is
reached, cook for 15 minutes. Leave oven off for three hours with door
closed. After three hours, set oven once again at 500 degrees and, after
the temperature is reached, cook for 15 additional minutes. Turn oven
off and leave ham in oven, tightly covered and undisturbed, for at least
three hours or overnight before removing.
NOTE: Do not open oven door during the entire cooking cycle.
Once you remove the ham, it is suggested that you pull off skin and
trim off excess fat and hard crust while ham is still warm. Then, you
can enjoy slicing your ham. Slice as thin as possible.
SUGGESTION: You may substitute Coca-Cola or 7-Up in part or all in
place of water. This carbonated drink will give you a more tender ham
with less salt taste.
Example of size:
13-pound ham - use 13 minutes
15-pound ham - use 15 minutes
17-pound ham - use 17 minutes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on coverr by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Joseph L. "Dede" Edwards...
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Joseph L. ``Dede'' Edwards recently retired after 48 years with
Smithfield Packing Co. He started working on a farm when he was 5.
Joseph L. ``Dede'' Edwards' name appears on this brand of sausage
produced by Smithfield Packing Co.
Edwards married Carolyn, a majorette at Suffolk High School.
by CNB