The Family History
I was born in North Carolina as Nancy Lynn Edwards. Although I was born in a small town I grew up mostly in Winston- Salem, North Carolina. My heritage comes from the countries of Wales and Germany (along with a little Cherokee Indian 🙂 ). Both of my parents came from large farm families that struggled through the Depression, molding them into honest, humble and down to earth people with good values.
When I was young my Dad played at least 10 instruments by ear, and he also worked in the insurance industry for 40 years before turning his sights back to the farm of his childhood along with my mom in the late 1980’s. My mother Faye worked at the Wake Forest library and went on after retirement to become a boutique farmer along with my Dad and created her own line of jellies called “Sweet Mama’s” that she shipped in gift packs to customers around the country.
Growing up my family life centered around our church. My mother taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and along with my Dad, served as a church Deacon assisting in the services. Around the house my Dad would frequently walk around playing his favorite songs on the guitar while singing along. I can almost hear him now just thinking about it. And my Mom was our family genealogist and wrote a book on her family history that is now in the Library of Congress.
I am the youngest in the Edward’s family, with one brother and two sisters.
My brother John is a Landscape Designer who has recently also been ordained as a Christian Minister. My sister Linda is a brilliant Librarian at Wake Forest University and my sister Mary is retired. Along with taking care of her hubby Steve, Mary is a tireless volunteer at her church in Charlotte, North Carolina. All three of my siblings love music too. My brother is an accomplished guitarist along with my sister Linda. And Mary claims the piano as her instrument. (At family get togethers I usually played the spoons 🙂 ) Later on I took piano lessons and I loved playing the piano in the afternoons after school.
Education and Work
I mostly grew up in Winston-Salem North Carolina and graduated from RJ Reynolds High School, after which I attended Kendall School of Design in Grand Rapids Michigan studying Interior Design. When I moved to California I took on a more broad path and studied an unusual mix of Business Management, Computer Science, Marketing, and Architectural classes.
My first “real” job was working as an Architecural Illustrator with a company in Newport Beach, California doing illustrations for housing tracks. I then graduated to another art studio in Orange, California called Segrove’s Studio. There I got the opportunity to work on illustrations for international projects from Dubai to Indonesia. It was a very interesting job and it was there that I really “became” an artist.
In the early 80’s at a very young age 😉 I joined forces with my then husband to start an interior design firm in San Clemente, California. We specialized in high-end residential projects in areas such as Houston, Texas, and Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as projects in California that spanned residences all along the coast in Orange County as well as the Silicon Valley, Rancho Santa Fe, and Indian Wells.
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In 1998 I began life “on my own” moving to Irvine, California and starting The Edwards Design Group. I was soon working on a beach front home in Newport Beach just starting construction. This along with a residence in Belmont Shores kept me busy for the first year. I worked strictly by referral with an unlisted phone number and in the years following I designed and completed interiors on homes under construction in Newport Beach, Monarch Beach, Belmont Shores, 3 residences in the Pasadena area and most recently a large residential project in Las Vegas. I also worked as a consultant on many other types of residential and commercial projects.
Time Away From Work
During the last 5 years I have also been involved in some humanitarian work. I served on the Board of Directors for International Orphan Care with medical centers and orphanages in Jalalabad and Kabul Afghanistan. I also helped out with 2 other orphan school projects in Kabul and Maza-e-Sharif, Afghanistan.
Although I never travelled to Afghanistan, I really had a heart for the poor children there shattered by years of war and violence.
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I had the opportunity to make a few trips to orphanages in Mexico with Corizon De Vida where I enjoyed coloring, doing crafts with the kids, and just hugging them.
I also have been sponsoring 2 children in Uganda for the last 5 years through the World Vision organization. Oliver is now 11 and Augustine is turning 13 this year.
Locally I have worked as a volunteer in 2005 with Working Wardrobes, a charity that helps women living in shelters to transition to the working world by arming them with education and wardrobes.
I also enjoy continuing my education and I have studied everything from Computer Science to French language. My latest interest is the new Adobe Creative Suite 2 software package. I am starting on Photoshop this Spring and
it is incredibly interesting!!!!
That’s all for now, I hope this article has given you a little glimpse of Nancy E. Chong!
