We’re learning more about a woman who was touched by Former Governor Edwin Edwards's legacy.
During his final campaign, he was planning to address incarceration.
"Governor Edwards looked out for people like me."
For nearly two decades, Bernadine Jackson Malveaux would visit her husband who was serving a life sentence in Angola every two weeks. During her frequent visits, she built rapport with the staff.
One day, she received an unexpected phone call from Governor Edwards that would potentially ease the burden of traveling to see her husband.
“He said that if he would've won the election the last time when he lost, he would've had some provision for us to go build some houses with maybe one bedroom and a kitchen bring our food and spend the weekend because he said it's too many people that are getting divorced when their husband go to prison,” said Malveaux.
Although Edward's plan did not come to fruition, Malveaux is still blown away by his kind gesture.
"He didn't worry about the color. This man here would go out his way because he wasn't locked up and thinking about people like me that would go to Angola and didn't have a place and we'd only go for a few hours,” said Malveaux.
Malveaux never got the chance to meet him in person but says she's inspired by Edward's ability to bring everyone together.
"They have a lot of good people in this world and we just have to connect and work together because we all are human, we all are people. Everybody's not alike, we've got bad apples in all races and all colors but we don't have to go down that road,” said Malveaux.
Former Governor Edwin Edwards will lie in honor in Memorial Hall at the State Capitol for public viewing. The state's only four-term governor died yesterday morning at the age of 93.
Sunday, he'll lie in repose at the old state capitol for family members and close friends.
Funeral details are still being worked out.
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