[1] The third of four daughters, with a younger brother, her father John Richard Sydney Petersen was an Australian trader and her mother Stella Courtenay (née Dawson) (1885-1951)[2] read Natural Sciences at Girton 1904-07, received a BA in 1907 from Trinity College Dublin (quasi ad eundem) and MA (Cantab)before becoming a science teacher before her marriage.
Watching her mother get on board a biplane and take off for Paris was a pivotal memory, and she was inspired by the exploits of the New Zealand aviator Jean Batten.
[5] She recalled receiving her license in the post on 4 September of that year, the day after war was declared.
[7] Early in 1943 Edwards saw a newspaper advertisement for women pilots to join the Air Transport Auxiliary and immediately applied.
She spent some time in the South Pacific and worked as a secretary in Singapore before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she married Bill Edwards and had a son.