http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/213332p-183603c.htmlJohn Edwards' eldest son, Wade, was just 16 when he was killed in a car accident. The account of a father's relationship with his son forms one of the most emotionally wrenching parts of Edwards' book, "Four Trials." Even now — eight years after Wade's death — the Democratic vice presidential candidate finds talking of "his best friend" extremely hard. "He was an extraordinary young man of heart and warmth," he told NBC's "Today" show last week. A touching element of Edwards' tribute to his son is the reprinting of a letter from one of Wade's school friends, Alsye Tharpe.In simple, heartfelt terms, she told Wade's parents what their son had meant to her. Today she tells the Daily News the full story of why Wade Edwards had touched her life.
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But for Alyse Tharpe, the part Wade Edwards played in her life is almost immeasurable. Tharpe was Wade's former fourth-grade classmate in Root Elementary School. Her life was spiraling downward until the freckle-faced young boy became her friend. While Tharpe never got a chance to thank him before he died, she poured out her feelings in a posthumous letter to him. The letter deeply touched Wade's mother, Elizabeth, and so moved John Edwards, he felt compelled to reprint it in his book.
As she tells her story for the first time, it is hard for Alyse not to well up.
Now pursuing a social work degree at Wake Technical Community College and registering voters for the upcoming election, Tharpe said she could have easily dropped out — or worse — if Wade had not intervened.