Lydia Justice Edwards papers

Lydia Justice Edwards was born in Carter County, Kentucky and grew up on a tobacco farm. She was educated in Kentucky schools, San Francisco State University and the University of California. Edwards served as Assistant Republican Chairman, San Francisco County, California during President Reagan's campaign for Governor of California. She was Legislative Assistant to the Governor of Alaska and served on various National Republican Committees. She became an Idaho resident in 1966.

Edwards was elected Chairman, Valley County Republican Central Committee in 1976 and 1978. She was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1980 and in 1984 as a member of the Rules Committee. Governor John Evans appointed Edwards to the Idaho House of Representatives in 1982 to fill the seat of Morgan Munger, who had resigned. She was elected as Representative of District 9 in 1982 and reelected in 1984. In the House she served on the Committees on State Affairs, Transportation and Conservation and Resources. While in the legislature she authored major transportation legislation and funding for the North-South Highway and Highway 55 at Horseshoe Bend. She promoted the mandatory child safety seat law.

Edwards was elected Idaho State Treasurer in 1986 and was reelected in 1990 and 1994. Edwards was a member of the Idaho Mothers Association and the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. She served on boards of the Idaho Lewis and Clark Trail Advisory Committee, Idaho Black History Museum and the Frank Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University. During her public service, she received the 1983 Disabled American Veteran's Citation of Merit, the 1985 Highway User's Motorvator Safety Award and was Beta Sigma Phi Sorority's First Lady of the Year.