She was born Alma Ross in Many, Louisiana, in her family's log house, as one of twelve children. Her father farmed 160 acres. Each autumn he made another payment on the purchase of his land with money from his cotton crop. Alma helped out on the farm by chopping and picking cotton and hoeing corn and peanuts. She recalls her mother washing clothes in a big pot over a fire in the yard. During the 1927 flood she was marooned for three days at a neighbor's house next door to Alliance High School, where she later graduated on May 9, 1929. The principal's wife made dresses for the three girls in her graduating class. Alma completed two years at Louisiana State Normal College in Natchitoches, and began teaching. She took classes in summer to finish course work for her degree. Alma taught in elementary schools, and then in high school in Plainview, where the Louisiana Maneuvers went on "out there in our yard," she recalls. She was teaching in Zwolle when America entered the war. Her brothers were drafted into the U.S. Army, while she joined the U.S. Navy as a WAVE in January of 1943. After boot camp in Cedar Falls, Iowa, she was sent to New York City to help staff a fleet post office that processed mail for the Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. When the war in Europe ended, the staff was transferred to San Francisco. She met Harry A. Edwards, a pharmacist's mate, in Oakland. They married on October 5, 1947.Alma remained in California after her discharge, and taught third and fourth grades, while Harry worked for the Veterans' Administration, which later transferred him to Colorado where Alma continued teaching. The couple remained in Colorado for 20 years until both retired. They bought a peach orchard where they raised several kinds of fruits. Moving to Louisiana they built a house on Toledo Bend where they lived for 15 years before re-locating to Shreveport. Alma has two stepchildren.