Henry Harman (Hap) Edens was born in Marlboro County, March 31, 1909. His devotion to law, athletics, hunting and fishing, friends and family are his most enduring traits. He was captain of the undefeated 1931 Carolina baseball team. In 1930, the Gamecocks beat Duke 22 to 0 and as leading scorer, Hap recalls that game as his “finest hour on the gridiron.” He graduated from USC in 1931 and was admitted to practice in July 1934. In 1937 he was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of South Carolina.
He was an excellent trial lawyer with an enviable ability to use intellect, charm, wit and perception in the courtroom. Hap tried the Byrd vs. Blue Ridge (1958) case which became a landmark decision in federal diversity jurisdiction. He served as president of the South Carolina Bar Association in 1959–60.
He married Jane Mason Gibbes, who survives him along with their children Mason Edens Hawley, Henry Harman “Bud” Edens, Jr. and Ann Edens Rainey, all of Columbia.