Miss Willie Swanson Edwards was born December 25, 1895, in Olaf,Virginia and died February 1974, at the age of 78. She was educated in the public schools of Virginia and Raleigh, North Carolina. She received her higher training at New York University and Pratt Institute in New York. Miss Edwards moved to Fulton, Missouri in March 1933, and was employed by the Fulton State Hospital, the Callaway Hospital, the WPA, Booker T Washington School and later began working for private families.

Many knew Miss Willie as the ‘tent lady of Fulton’ and the five foot, eighty-five pound woman chose to live an eccentric life housed only by series of tents.

In her early ears she was a confident woman, whose beauty was like the fire-gold flame of dawn.  Her thoughts flowed with wisdom and that heart of hers would be the source of love that so many young people would cherish.  Miss Willie walked taller than the average woman, held her beauty in a classical way, and in her uniqueness, was stunning.  She was striking in her bone structure, skin was like the bronze over glass, and she radiated an intelligent beauty.  Her dazzling smile revealed the umber glow in her cheeks, and her brown eyes — a clear, chestnut brown, like amber from the tall forests across the sea-, laid calm and full of emotion.  There was a charm that hid her pain and a passion that defined her purpose, and although she experienced difficult times after her mother’s death, she was still determined to go to school.