Teacher with Polio gets recognized in hometown library

LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – A longtime teacher in Louisville is being honored this month as an inspiration to the community.

“Just like this COVID is raging now that’s the way that polio is raging. Every day you turn the radio on they were saying so many people in this county and so many people in this town had polio,” said Edwards.

When she was just 12 years old, Allie Lue Edwards was diagnosed with Polio which caused her right leg to be paralyzed.

“But I remember my mother would tell me sometimes baby sister pick your feet up off the floor and to me I was walking as I always walked and she could tell that something was wrong,” said Edwards.

Ms.Edwards was later sent to the Doctor for 7 months and eventually had to use crutches and then a wheelchair for the rest of her life but she wasn’t about to let polio, or anything else, slow her down.

“I think it gave me the courage to go on. I guess when you get to a certain age and you’re around people who strive to better themselves it makes you want to do better,” said Edwards.

Ms.Edwards continued to strive and found her love for English and typing.

“There was something about that typewriter that just intrigued me. There was something about it that just made me want to use it,” said Edwards.

Edwards went to Rust College and got her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Education.

From there she began a 30-year teaching career that would begin at Louisville Colored High School during the Segregation Era and continue through the integration of the Louisville Municipal School District.

But even after retirement that love for English and typing stayed with her and would lead Allie Lue Edwards to write.

She will be celebrating her 88th Birthday with the release of her book “A Gift”.

Edwards book signing will be on March 19th in the Winston County Library.