Growing Up Big

When the 13 Edwards siblings get together for family weddings and birthdays, as they did 25 years ago for Allison and Tommy Edwards' wedding, attendance typically tops 40.

Allison Edwards was an only child. The assistant professor at The University of Texas School of Nursing says she enjoyed growing up solo. “I never felt like I missed out on having a sibling.”

But she needn’t have worried. Because when Allison married Tommy Edwards, founder of Cima Energy, she also gained 12 siblings who came with a slew of spouses and children. “The ironic thing,” Allison says, “is that my father-in-law [the patriarch of those 13 offspring] was an only kid too.”

So what was it like stepping into a family whose every get-together attracts no less than 40 people?  “It was awesome, like an ongoing party,” Allison says. “I was never overwhelmed, because as an only child you’re always the center of attention. Having an immediate set of sisters- and brothers-in-law was glorious.”

Tommy, who is the 12^th of the 13 children, says, “My parents did a great job. We always said it was like they had 13 only children.”

Today, Tommy’s parents are no longer living, but their legacy lives on in their 13 children, who range in age from 49 to 70, and their 18 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

The Edwards kids grew up on their large working ranch in Stowell, Texas, which was established in 1818. Allison says, “They had two or three of everything – dishwashers, washers and dryers.”

“Growing up on a farm in a rural environment added a twist,” Tommy says. “We had a ready playgroup, but we had to entertain ourselves a lot. It was like we had our own squad. We did things you couldn’t do in a city today – we walked back and forth to school, we’d play outside and be gone for a long time, and nobody would look for you. [My parents] didn’t have to think much about safety. The older ones always took care of the younger kids, and you were always with a big group.”

Sometimes the group got a little rowdy. “They had this milkman deliver milk to the family,” Allison says. “In 1976, they spent $200 a month on milk bills. That would be like $1,000 or more today. Just gallons and gallons of milk.” Unbeknownst to their parents, the kids would stop the milkman for ice cream, which wasn’t on order. Once their dad got wind of the offhanded additions, he told the milkman to shut them down, because the charges would amp up. The new plan didn’t go over well with the kids, so Tommy says, “My sister talked my older brother into locking the milkman into his truck so they could access the back of the truck to get to the ice cream. As they were implementing the scheme, one of the older brothers pulled up and stopped it.”

Another time some of the girls were experimenting with cigarettes. They burned the barn down.

“Perfection was not in the cards,” Tommy laughs. “It was kind of like Lord of the Flies. Pretty hard to describe. What’s normal to me is not normal to someone else.”

Time and schedules were all relative. “If you were five minutes late, you’d just have to say, ‘Hey, we got here, and we’re all alive!’

“It was hard to do anything with any structure. With that many kids there were so many car wrecks and football injuries. You learn to roll with the punches and live with life’s imperfections pretty early on.”

After all the years of living with a crowd, Tommy says when he married he didn’t think he wanted children. “But my wife wanted six. We were blessed with three,” Grace, 20, Porter, 18, and Thomas, 15.

Now when the extended family gets together, it’s usually punctuated by a holiday or birthday, and it’s typically at the ranch. Once a month, everyone celebrates birthdays. “Someone brings a cake and lists everybody’s birthday for that month,” Allison says. “Then we all contribute to the menu, and the brother who is the rancher does the beef.”

The siblings, all of whom live in Texas, still meet regularly for the working interest of the ranch. Allison says, “The best part about having this extensive family is that I always have a resource or a friend. There’s always an event, always a wedding or a funeral, and there’s no shortage of conversation or things to do.

“At the end of the day, they’re such a loving, close-knit family. They’re such a force.”

Of his growing-up years, Tommy says, “There was never a dull moment. In hindsight I would not trade it for the world.”