[2] When she was five, her father moved the family to Jackson, Alabama where he had bought a sawmill; she went on to work there as a teen.

Bedsole ran with the Republican nomination for his seat and defeated Democratic nominee John Saad in the general election, becoming the first woman to serve in the Alabama Senate.

[10][11] She selected Rex Elsasse, the former executive director of the Ohio Republican Party, to serve as her campaign manager.

[13][14] During Alabama's 1998 gubernatorial election Bedsole endorsed Democratic nominee Don Siegelman against Governor Fob James.

[16][17] This institution remains the "only fully public residential high school for sophomores, juniors, and seniors seeking advanced studies in mathematics, science, and the humanities" in the state.

She chaired the distribution committee for the Sybil H. Smith Charitable Trust (later renamed the Sybil and White Smith Foundation), and was also a board member of the J. L. Bedsole Foundation, which awarded grants for projects benefiting post-secondary education, the arts, and economic development in southwest Alabama.

[1] In 1999 she became president of the Mobile Tricentennial, working for three years with hundreds of volunteers to produce programming for the event.

[17] In 2002, she was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor, which recognizes living persons for their achievements and contributions to the state.

[19] She was feted with a 90th birthday party by students at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science in January 2020.