[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 8, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF LULA MARIE EDWARDS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 8, 2022

  Ms. SEWELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and 
legacy of Lula Marie Edwards, an entrepreneur, exemplary community 
leader, and pioneering nurse during the Civil Rights Movement who 
passed at age 92 on February 1, 2022.
  Mrs. Edwards was born one of six children on September 6, 1929, in 
Orville, AL, to the late James and Mary Scott-Harris. Valuing education 
even as a child, Mrs. Edwards was the first person in her family to 
graduate from high school at the top of the 1948 Keith High School 
inaugural graduating class. She continued her education at Selma 
University, where she studied to become an educator. However, after 
caring for her ailing brother Robert, Mrs. Edwards gained the attention 
of the nuns at Good Samaritan Hospital, and they encouraged her to 
become a nurse. Upon completing her LPN training at Good Samaritan 
School of Nursing in 1953, she served as a pioneering African American 
nurse treating the Foot Soldiers who were bludgeoned during ``Bloody 
Sunday'' in 1965, as they peacefully demonstrated for the equal right 
to vote.
  During her time at Good Samaritan Hospital, Mrs. Edwards served 
dutifully, working in every area of the hospital from 1953 until the 
hospital's closure. Continuing to serve her community as a healthcare 
professional, she went on to work at Vaughan Regional Hospital and Dr. 
Ernest Okeke Family Medicine before ultimately retiring from nursing in 
1995 at 42. Upon her retirement, she was honored by Chi Eta Phi Nursing 
Sorority, Inc. for her extraordinary contributions to the nursing 
profession.
  Spending much of her childhood in Siloam Baptist Church, Mrs. Edwards 
devoted her life to Christ at an early age. She was a member of the 
Queen of Peace Catholic Church before joining the Mt. Zion Primitive 
Baptist Church, where she faithfully served in various capacities 
including, the Mother of the church, a member of the Missionary 
Society, and an active Sunday school member. Mrs. Edwards was also an 
ardent fundraiser for the church and consistently encouraged the youth 
and supported all church activities.
  Dedicating her life to helping others, Mrs. Edwards exuded a sense of 
community, continuing, to help people outside of the hospital setting 
by opening her home to provide healthcare to people who otherwise would 
not have had access to it earning her the title ``neighborhood 
doctor.'' As an enterprising woman, she also served as a landlord 
opening homes on her property once again, to those in need providing 
affordable housing for her tenants and creating a safe haven for the 
entire community.
  Mrs. Edwards was preceded in death by her parents James and Mary 
Harris, loving husband Amos Edwards, son James ``Ebo'' Ervin, sister 
Nellie B. Jackson, brothers Andrew Jackon (A.J.) Harris, James ``Lil 
Buddy'' Harris, Jr., and grandson Kenneth ``Ken Bear'' Edwards Sr. She 
is survived by her children, Brenda (Steven) Brazzell, Anthony Edwards, 
Amy (Roosevelt) Marzette, Stephanie Menifee, Louis (Lisa) Edwards, 
Bonita (Calvin) Andrews, and Derrick (Adrein) Edwards, sixty-two 
grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren, seven great-great 
grandchildren, brothers Robert Harris, Sr. and Lovie Lee Harris, 
faithful God daughter Nancy Clark Jackson, and a host of additional 
relatives, members of her church family, friends, and community 
children.
  On behalf of Alabama's 7th Congressional District, I ask my 
colleagues to join me in recognizing the life and legacy of Lula Marie 
Edwards and her contributions to the Selma community.

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