Hello, I'm Councilwoman Teresa Maury.

In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to take a moment and sit down with a local leader who's a legend and has made a lasting impact on the town of Huntington.

Tracy Edwards.

Thank you for coming, Chase.

Thank you for having me.

The Edwards and Thompson family's name is well known in Huntington, starting with your mother, Dolores D.

Thompson, as we all know, who founded the Huntington Station in Richmond Center, helped bring the boys and girls club to Huntington Station and spent decades building opportunities and unity throughout the town of Huntington.

And your hard work continues through your beautiful daughter Kim and your sons, Tyrell and Walter.

One of my favorite people in the whole world, Walter, and who currently serves as deputy highway superintendent in the town of Huntington.

So, Tracy, one of the first questions I have for you is what does it mean to you as a mother to see that legacy carried forward through your family?

Well, it is it's really rewarding.

You know, my grandparents and and my parents made sure that service wasn't optional.

I had to be a candy striper at Huntington Hospital.

Right across uh when I was uh 14 years old.

So in our family, that became something that you had to do.

You know, so to see my children, uh Walter, you know, as I mentioned with the town, and uh Kimberly with the DA's office, and Tyrrell works for the state, he's a discrimination investigator.

You know, it uh Walter and I couldn't be prouder.

You know, it's every family has their challenges.

Yes.

You know, we're just like every other family, uh, but to see them carry on that uh that service is uh it's really special to us.

And in our town, you've worn many hats.

Um you have two sure I get this right.

You're a dedicated citizen advocate, elected official, um, and you gave so much of yourself to our community.

Can you tell me a little bit about your work as an elected official?

Yeah, it was um it was wonderful.

It it really was.

I had an incredible team, you know, Michelle and and Joanne.

Uh you can't do it by yourself as uh you know.

But I had a really great support system of volunteers, you know, as well.

Uh one of the things that I'm you know most proud of is the youth program uh that we had at uh that South Huntington School District because it gave us the opportunity to do not just the traditional gym programs, but we were able to teach them photography, uh, financial literacy.

Uh we had them on the golf course, you know, so and but the most special thing is like Jim McGoldrick uh lives in Huntington Station.

He never missed one session in a year as a volunteer.

You can't do all of those things by yourself.

Yeah, and and one of the other programs I was really um really proud of is partnering with the state and um the Homeland Security to do the emergency preparedness bags and Narcan training.

So if we can do something that actually influences families and helps families, that is what's uh what's really special for me.

I so agree with you on that.

You know, being part of the community and working hard for your community is so important, and obviously you've done that as well as taught your children that and your and your whole family is is so involved.

And you've had a lot of firsts, and uh the most recently becoming the vice president of the New York State NAA CP conference.

And you know, that's you know, leading as a woman in that in that space is so amazing.

So how do you feel about that?

What how do you feel about that project and being part of that?

It's great.

You know, but it's it's it's really helping at a broader scale, as broader scale.

So we're going from a local councilwoman to be able to have now state influence.

Uh I'm also proud to be on the national board.

You know, but at the end of the day, it's really it's not about me, right?

It's about what can we do, especially as women, uh, especially being a black woman uh at this time to make sure that we are leading the way, you know, for others.

I don't want it to be continue to be the first, right?

Um, you know, Glenda Jackson uh wears the honor of being the first black uh councilwoman, but we have to make sure that we're not the last.

Exactly.

Right.

Exactly, right?

And uh and we need all women to just continue to help each other and support each other in that space.

I agree with you, it's so true.

We need to be our own support network and really help, you know, help everyone, but certainly as women um to help each other is so important.

And you've also been in activism for public service for decades, right?

And um how many how is that experience you think changed for women and in particular black women in in our communities?

Well, you know, it's it gives us the opportunity to show our resolve, right?

Uh being a councilwoman, you know, I ran and won.

I ran and lost.