Anna Mae Hyde-Edwards

Anna Mae Hyde-Edwards; of Pontiac; age 100; was born on January 18, 1919, in Logan County, Kentucky to the late Morrie and Mattie Crumbaugh. She passed away peacefully at her residence on Saturday, December 28, 2019, just 21 days shy of her 101st birthday.

She married Eloy Hyde on May 23, 1936 at the age of 17 & they had 4 children while residing in Kentucky. They initially moved to New Albany, and later to Jeffersonville, Indiana where their 5th child was born.

She separated from her husband in 1947 & the children went back to Adairville, Kentucky to live on the farm with their maternal grandparents. She moved to Pontiac, Michigan in 1949 to live with her sister and find a job and a home large enough for her children to join her. Although she and her husband, Eloy, never divorced, she eventually entered into an approximate 8-year common law relationship with Sanford Edwards and assumed his last name.

The children eventually joined her in Pontiac in 1952. She was a stickler for cleanliness and although she could only afford shelter for herself & children in the public housing projects, she maintained and taught her children to maintain a neat, clean home and a well-manicured lawn. She often won the prize for the best kept lawn in the projects. She set an example for her children by assigning chores to each of them to ensure that they learned how to maintain the home while she was at work. She was a great cook and made sure her children had good home-cooked meals. Although she could only afford mostly second-hand clothing & 1 pair of shoes per year for the children, she made sure they were always neat and clean. She was a strict disciplinarian but she had a big, warm heart and loved her children, unconditionally. She taught them to be independent and to be kind, compassionate and respectful to others, as she was.

For a couple years in the late 1950’s, she worked in downtown Pontiac doing alterations for Huddicks & Osmuns Menswear customers as well as uniforms for several bus drivers. She also worked for Connolly’s Jewelers, cleaning jewelry and wrapping gifts.

Because she only had an 8th grade education, she spent most of her life working as a housekeeper to feed and clothe her children. She immediately began working as a housekeeper for various people when she arrived in Pontiac in 1949. However, in December of the same year, she began working as a full-time live-in housekeeper & nanny for the Noel Buckner family, in Bloomfield Hills, until her children came to Pontiac, at which time she began working part-time. She worked for the Buckners for approximately 10 years.

The Buckners recommended her to the Jedediah Becker family in Greenwich, Connecticut. She began working as a full-time housekeeper & nanny for the Beckers in the Fall of 1960 and continued working there for approximately 17 years before returning to Pontiac around 1977.

She began working again, as a housekeeper, for Sparks-Griffin Funeral Home in 1977 until she retired in 2009. She worked for 3 generations of the Griffin family.

Anna Mae was always treated like family by the Buckner, Becker and Sparks-Griffin families.

Mrs. Hyde-Edwards leaves to cherish her memory, daughters, Arvesta Groves, Edna (Isaac) Henry-Basil and Mattie Lasseigne; grandchildren, Walter Paul Peters, Robert Peters, Lestra Huttula, Kyle Groves, Juana Fortier, Juan A. (Dawn) Fortier, Kayre Stanley Sr., Thomas Stanley, Dahlia Stanley, Toyika Seay, Tanja Lasseigne and Edward J. Lasseigne III; 21 great grandchildren and 22 great-great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Morrie and Mattie Crumbaugh and step-father, Daniel Baldry; husband, Eloy Hyde; sister, Arvis Russell; brothers, Merrit Crumbaugh and 2 infant brothers; son, Paul Kayre Hyde; daughter, Carolyn A. Fortier; grandsons, Daaron Groves and Keith Stanley and granddaughter Miyoshi L. Scott.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 11a.m. at Sparks-Griffin Funeral Home, Pontiac.