Lena Frances Edwards was a woman African American medical doctor.
Born in Washington D. C., her parents were Thomas Edwards and Marie Coakley Edwards. She was valedictorian of her 1917 Dunbar H. S. class. Dr. Edwards, a 1924 graduate of Howard University Medical School, established her long medical career in Jersey City, NJ in 1925. Her practice was largely within the European immigrant community. An advocate of natural childbirth, she struggled for years before being admitted for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City in 1931.
She taught obstetrics at Howard University Medical School (1954), was medical adviser to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
By far her most extraordinary accomplishment was that, at the age of sixty, she interrupted her practice to do missionary work at Hereford, Texas, among Mexican migrant farm workers. She also founded a modern maternity hospital, restored from a former POW building in the migrant living camp and named it after Our Lady of Guadalupe. Funding for the fifteen-bed clinic came from her personal finances and contributions from her New Jersey supporters. After suffering a heart attack while working in Texas, Edwards returned to Washington, DC, where she eventually joined with Project Head Start. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized her humanitarian work and nominated her for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A devout Roman Catholic, she was given the Poverello Medal in 1967, as one whose life exemplified the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi.
Married to a classmate, Dr. Kieth Madison, they had six children. In 1984, Howard University medical alumni association honored her as a "living Legend."
~~
Note: 'Doc Edwards' was a warm, gentle and wise friend to my family. When she left Hereford, she left a multitude of people who loved and respected her. Unknown at this time place of burial.
Born in Washington D. C., her parents were Thomas Edwards and Marie Coakley Edwards. She was valedictorian of her 1917 Dunbar H. S. class. Dr. Edwards, a 1924 graduate of Howard University Medical School, established her long medical career in Jersey City, NJ in 1925. Her practice was largely within the European immigrant community. An advocate of natural childbirth, she struggled for years before being admitted for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City in 1931.
She taught obstetrics at Howard University Medical School (1954), was medical adviser to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
By far her most extraordinary accomplishment was that, at the age of sixty, she interrupted her practice to do missionary work at Hereford, Texas, among Mexican migrant farm workers. She also founded a modern maternity hospital, restored from a former POW building in the migrant living camp and named it after Our Lady of Guadalupe. Funding for the fifteen-bed clinic came from her personal finances and contributions from her New Jersey supporters. After suffering a heart attack while working in Texas, Edwards returned to Washington, DC, where she eventually joined with Project Head Start. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized her humanitarian work and nominated her for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A devout Roman Catholic, she was given the Poverello Medal in 1967, as one whose life exemplified the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi.
Married to a classmate, Dr. Kieth Madison, they had six children. In 1984, Howard University medical alumni association honored her as a "living Legend."
~~
Note: 'Doc Edwards' was a warm, gentle and wise friend to my family. When she left Hereford, she left a multitude of people who loved and respected her. Unknown at this time place of burial.
Lena Frances Edwards was a woman African American medical doctor.
Born in Washington D. C., her parents were Thomas Edwards and Marie Coakley Edwards. She was valedictorian of her 1917 Dunbar H. S. class. Dr. Edwards, a 1924 graduate of Howard University Medical School, established her long medical career in Jersey City, NJ in 1925. Her practice was largely within the European immigrant community. An advocate of natural childbirth, she struggled for years before being admitted for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City in 1931.
She taught obstetrics at Howard University Medical School (1954), was medical adviser to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
By far her most extraordinary accomplishment was that, at the age of sixty, she interrupted her practice to do missionary work at Hereford, Texas, among Mexican migrant farm workers. She also founded a modern maternity hospital, restored from a former POW building in the migrant living camp and named it after Our Lady of Guadalupe. Funding for the fifteen-bed clinic came from her personal finances and contributions from her New Jersey supporters. After suffering a heart attack while working in Texas, Edwards returned to Washington, DC, where she eventually joined with Project Head Start. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized her humanitarian work and nominated her for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A devout Roman Catholic, she was given the Poverello Medal in 1967, as one whose life exemplified the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi.
Married to a classmate, Dr. Kieth Madison, they had six children. In 1984, Howard University medical alumni association honored her as a "living Legend."
~~
Note: 'Doc Edwards' was a warm, gentle and wise friend to my family. When she left Hereford, she left a multitude of people who loved and respected her. Unknown at this time place of burial.
Born in Washington D. C., her parents were Thomas Edwards and Marie Coakley Edwards. She was valedictorian of her 1917 Dunbar H. S. class. Dr. Edwards, a 1924 graduate of Howard University Medical School, established her long medical career in Jersey City, NJ in 1925. Her practice was largely within the European immigrant community. An advocate of natural childbirth, she struggled for years before being admitted for a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City in 1931.
She taught obstetrics at Howard University Medical School (1954), was medical adviser to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
By far her most extraordinary accomplishment was that, at the age of sixty, she interrupted her practice to do missionary work at Hereford, Texas, among Mexican migrant farm workers. She also founded a modern maternity hospital, restored from a former POW building in the migrant living camp and named it after Our Lady of Guadalupe. Funding for the fifteen-bed clinic came from her personal finances and contributions from her New Jersey supporters. After suffering a heart attack while working in Texas, Edwards returned to Washington, DC, where she eventually joined with Project Head Start. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized her humanitarian work and nominated her for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A devout Roman Catholic, she was given the Poverello Medal in 1967, as one whose life exemplified the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi.
Married to a classmate, Dr. Kieth Madison, they had six children. In 1984, Howard University medical alumni association honored her as a "living Legend."
~~
Note: 'Doc Edwards' was a warm, gentle and wise friend to my family. When she left Hereford, she left a multitude of people who loved and respected her. Unknown at this time place of burial.
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