Palo Verde teacher Barbara Edwards was killed on September 11, 2001. The language teacher was was one of the 64 passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight 77 from Dullas Intl. Airport.

Edwards was on vacation and recovering from a  broken arm.  After attending a wedding in Connecticut and visited her son Doug, in New Jersey she visisted with friends Darlene and Bud Flagg at their farm in Virginia.  Edwards was on the flight with the Flagg's returning to Las Vegas when it was hijacked.

Edwards is survived by her sons, Doug Edwards of New Jersey, Scott  Edwards of South Carolina and Mike Edwards who is in the Military.   She is also survived by her sister, Jane Gollan of Bothell, Washington; her parents Jack and Lissy Vander Baan both of Michigan, and two grandchildren. 

Edwards was born in Germany and moved to Michigan when she was 10 years old.   She lived in Bloomington, IN from and graduated from Western Michigan University.  She began teaching French  and German at Palo Verde High and also teaching German at CCSN. 

On Sept. 11, 2003 a memorial was dedicated at the southeast corner of the soccer field.  The PVHS  Air Force ROTC unit raised a flag that had been flown over both the US Capital and the Pentagon.  The flag was later given to the Edwards family.  Hand prints in the memorial signify the lives that Edwards touched.  A foreign language scholarship has also been dedicated in her honor.