Edwards, Juanelle Barbee, 1923-

Juanelle Barbee Edwards, speaker and writer for the Democratic Party, was born in Eastman (Dodge County), Georgia in 1923 and attended Middle Georgia College (Cochran, Ga.). She married John Wiley Edwards in 1948. A resident of Marietta, Georgia, Edwards has long been active in her community and in Democratic party politics. She served as treasurer and then president of the Georgia Federation of Democratic Women. At the 1977 fall meeting of the GFDW she sponsored a unanimously adopted resolution for ratification of the ERA. In 1980 she received their President's Award for outstanding contributions to Democratic Women of Georgia. Edwards traveled as a spokesperson and was a speech writer for Jimmy Carter during his 1980 presidential re-election campaign, was a delegate to the 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 Democratic National Conventions, and was a candidate from Georgia's 7th District in 1983 to fill Larry McDonald's unexpired term for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1990, she was named one of Cobb County, Georgia's "Pioneer Women," by the Women's Political Caucus of Georgia. In 1995, Edwards was president emeritus of Cobb County Democratic Women, and a member of the Governor's Club of the Democratic Party of Georgia, as well as a board member of several educational and charitable organizations.