Edna Mosley, Aurora’s first black councilwoman, dead at 89

AURORA | Aurora’s first black city council representative and longtime community activist Edna Mosley died Aug. 26. She was 89.

Friends and peers considered Mosley a pioneer in many ways, blazing trails in women’s rights, racial equality and fighting against gang violence.

Edna and her husband, John Mosley, a retired Tuskegee Airman, moved to Aurora in 1965, when Mr. Mosley was transferred to Lowry Air Force Base.
Edna was part of the first graduating class of Metro State University of Denver in 1969. She was considered a “non-traditional” student because she was older, with two college-aged children.

“It was a struggle,” she said in an interview in 2003. “I was very intimidated during registration to be there with younger people.”
Edna was elected to the Aurora City Council at-large in 1991 and served three, four-year terms. During her tenure, she was influential in anti-gang programs, local gun control legislation and issues effecting racial equality.

She and her husband were active in creating and supporting scholarship programs, as well as numerous political candidates.
Mosley is survived by Mr. Mosley and two sons, Eric and Brian Mosley, and a daughter, Edna Futrell. She was preceded in death by a son, John Mosley Jr.

Services and arrangements are pending.