WP Admin

Please try disabling all plugins and switching your theme to twentysixteen.

If the problem goes away, then turn things back on, one at a time, until you can see what’s causing the problem.

Ok but will the custom theme I’m using come back as it was being used or will the site be messed up after I turn it off then back on again?

This also goes for the plugins?

Settings are saved, so when you turn things back on you won’t lose anything. This is just a diagnostic methodology to see if a plugin or your theme is the problem.

ok

I found that this plugin named Elegant Builder is the culprit. Once deactivated these three items became available when Edit was clicked on.
Status: Published Edit Edit status
Visibility: Public Edit Edit visibility
Published on: Oct 13, 2012 @ 15:41 Edit

As for the Content box, Editor, just above it the two tabs, Visual and Text didn’t return but the numerous icons like in MS Word appeared.

That’s progress! Now you can ask about it here:
https://www.elegantthemes.com/forum/

Was just thinking about doing that. Don’t these developers look to see what negative effects it does and can have on the basic operations of WP? Sheeze.