edith jones was born in waldron, indiana, the daughter of james raymond jones and mary "madge" yeager jones. she attended purdue university, earning a bachelor's degree in english literature in 1935. she won the flora roberts medal as "outstanding senior woman" in her class at purdue. she earned a phd in astronomy from radcliffe college in 1941, where she held a pickering fellowship in 1936 and worked with harlow shapley and cecilia payne-gaposchkin at harvard university.