Editor’s Note: In 2011, Southern California News Group photojournalist Sarah Reingewirtz met Dorothy Edwards, an unhoused woman who had lived on Pasadena streets for years. In the years to follow, Edwards allowed Reingewirtz to photograph her life battling homelessness, as well as her inspiring transformation into a much-admired advocate for the area’s unhoused. Edwards’ death on Oct. 27 sparked tributes from Pasadena and across the nation.
I met Dorothy Edwards and her dog Gunner for the first time at her Pasadena “home,” a campsite decorated for the holidays, complete with a tent she could crawl into. Inside were a mattress, an end table and shelves with some food.
Despite the conditions, she was smart, funny and warm, and she loved to tell stories. But by then in her 50s she was tired of being invisible after years on the streets. continue reading...