Cris Edwards was a dental assistant and taught that subject.
But her love was her Harley.
Edwards, who died in a Centennial hospice on April 22 at age 77, started riding bikes when she was a teenager and was a “daredevil,” said her daughter Rachel Joy Baldon of Littleton.
Once, she rode a motorcycle inside a metal ball at Coney Island, said her sister, Nina King of Sylvania, Ohio.
“She had a wild, adventurous spirit,” her sister said. Edwards took one cross-country trip on her Harley by herself, and another around the perimeter of the U.S. with a group.
Cris Edwards and her husband rode motorcycles and were members of the Harley Owners Group.
They also were chaperones for the Future Farmers of America at the Colorado State Fair for 37 years and assisted with Little Britches Rodeo events.
Carol May Lotts was born in New Auburn, Wis., on Christmas Day in 1929 and got the name Cris because of her birth date.
She graduated from high school in California.
She performed with the USO in Australia, singing, dancing and playing the accordion, piano and organ.
In 1951, she married Richard Edwards, whom she had met in Maryland, where her family lived for a time.
Then Edwards was transferred to Colorado. They adopted five children.
Cris Edwards did her dental assistance training in Maryland and later set up a similar program for Front Range Community College. She coordinated the program for 15 years.
She worked as a dental assistant for various dentists in the Denver area and then did management consulting: teaching dentists how to train assistants, lecturing on dental assisting and writing pamphlets on dental radiography and safety precautions in using dental X-ray equipment.
She served as president of the Colorado State Dental Assistants’ Association and was chairwoman of the Aurora Public Schools Vocational Technical Center advisory committee.
In addition to her daughter and sister, Edwards is survived by two other daughters, Barbara Gail Whitaker of San Mateo, Calif., and Stephanie LeAnn Edwards; one son, Jeffrey Lynn Edwards ; one brother, Gaylord Lotts of Independence, Mo.; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband; a son, Randolph Julian Edwards; and two brothers.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-954-1223.
