Even at 80, Edwards continues her quest to pick up trash alongside road
If you’ve ever driven down Buddy Faust Road and enjoyed its cleanliness, you have one person to thank: Eleanor Jean Edwards.
At 80 years old, Edwards picks up litter on Buddy Faust Road at least once a week. She heads out of her house in the morning, regardless of heat or cold, with her trash picker and trash bag, to clean her road.
When she retired from her janitorial position at the University of Georgia in 2003, Edwards said she realized how bad the road looked because of all the excessive litter. She decided to take matters into her own hands.
“God, when he created (Earth), he meant for it to be kept clean,” Edwards said.
Edwards said her father always preached to her to “kill two birds with one stone,” which is what she said she’s doing by exercising while cleaning.
Buddy Faust Road is nearly 2 miles long, but Edwards walks the entire length to ensure the road maintains its cleanliness, getting her steps in along the way. With the amount of traffic and tall grass on the road, she said she has to watch out for cars and snakes.
She has also cleaned up Smokey Road and Fairground Road, and said she will pull over on Highway 78 when she sees litter while she is driving.
Occasionally, people will stop their cars on the side of the road to thank her for her hard work and even offer her money in appreciation. But the occasional driver isn’t the biggest way that Oglethorpe County has shown its appreciation.
John Faz, former Oglethorpe County code enforcement officer, wrote a letter to the state recommending Edwards for the Adopt-A-Road program, a statewide litter reduction and prevention program.
“Ms. Edwards was a primary example (of someone to be nominated),” Faz said in an interview. “Every morning, she would get up, and early morning, you could see her going up one side of the road and down the other side of the road.”
Edwards was accepted, and Faz ordered signs to post on either side of the road, sometime around 2009 or 2010, he said.
The signs still stand and state:
ADOPT-A-ROAD LITTER CONTROL
ADOPTED BY ELEANOR JEAN EDWARDS
“She does it for her own well-being, but also for the beautification of the road,” Faz said. “She takes pride in the road that she lives on, and that’s what makes it all worthwhile.”
Edwards has one message for Oglethorpe County residents.
“Let’s keep Oglethorpe County clean,” Edwards said. “If we ride along the road and see some trash, if we can pull over and get it, that’ll be good.
“It looks so good when you keep it picked up.”