Edwina Fox Hahn
Edwina Fox Hahn gave her consent to leave her body and enter a more spiritual world to join her husband, Archie Hahn Jr. who died Sept. 9, 2001, on Saturday, May 17, 2008.
She will always be remembered for starting the Cape Coral Holiday Boat-A-Long and leading the parade with their 47-foot yacht, Astrid. She started the parade for the Parks and Recreation Department in 1976 and ran it for 17 years until her health forced her to stop and thankfully Dave Drake took over.
With her tireless phone calls and efforts to sign up boaters and infuse the enthusiasm to join a parade without contests and advertisements, but just for the joy of celebrating the holidays, she used her own money and materials to send out information to all who wanted it. Because of her efforts, the parade has grown to be the highlight of Cape Coral’s holiday celebrations.
Because of the Boat-A-Long, articles of her, “Queen of Lights,” have been in the News Press, the Cape Coral Daily Breeze and the Mature Lifestyle magazine. She has obtained awards such as the Outstanding Citizen award, Certificates of Appreciation from the Parks and Recreation Department, the Good Neighbor award and a plaque from Kiwanis for appreciation of her efforts in the Boat-A-Long. When she was 89 years old, the mayor proclaimed Dec. 17, 2006, as Edwina Hahn Day.
One of the other ways to make newcomers to Cape Coral more welcome, for many years she and her husband took many of the New Residents Club’s members on their yacht for cruises along the Boat-A-Long route to see the Cape from the waterway and to encourage them to put their boats in the parade. She also received a plaque in appreciation for her efforts from the New Residents Club.
She was born Nov. 18, 1917, in Lynchburg, Va. She graduated from Virginia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in 1939, where she won three awards for being an outstanding nurse. She married her husband, Archie Hahn Jr., in 1939 and raised three children.
Wherever she lived she was helpful to her neighbors with her nursing abilities and usually worked as a welcoming hostess for new neighbors, which included throwing parties for the neighborhood. She was a designer of old furs to make them useful again and designed her own clothes to fit her joyful and youthful attitude toward living. She and her husband loved to dance and won awards for their waltzing. Many people in Cape Coral will also remember her for the neighborhood driveway Halloween party she had every year.
She is survived by her children, Archie Hahn III, Amy Hurst and Edwina H. Reid; five grandchildren, Archie Hahn IV, Christopher Hurst, Evan Hurst, Benjamin Hurst and John P. Noonan; and great-grandchild, Ashleigh Noonan. She has also been a loving influence in Edwina Reid’s stepchildren, Linda Campbell, Tommy Reid, Cheryl Ford, Rob Reid and Becca Reid, and their families.
There will be a private family gathering to spread her ashes at some future date, so please have your own service for her.
Donations may be made in her name to your favorite charity or Hope Hospice. Nothing would please her more than for you for give to organizations that are in need of funds to continue their great work.
The Queen of Lights will never die as long as the Boat-A-Long continues.