Clark honors First Lady Lovelace

The First Lady Annual Valentine Luncheon was held on Thursday given by 2006 First Lady Martha Clark in honor of 2007 First Lady Luan Lovelace.

Since the inception of the Kilgore First Lady, 60 First Ladies have been honored since 1948.

The luncheon was held at the First Baptist Church where Clark presented Lovelace with a certificate showing a brick would be placed in her honor at the World's Richest Acre park.

Other First Ladies attending were Ellen Watson, 1954, Margaret Martin, 1964, Margie Morton, 1975, Betty Jo Mobley, 1976, Jo Hancock, 1979, Justine Stanley, 1980, Virginia Long, 1985, Helen Griffin, 1987, Frankie Florey, 1989, Latane Speer, 1996, Doyline Rhodes, 1997, Wanda Bittick, 1998, Nina Fern Nichols, 1999, Jeanne Hale, 2000, Virginia Wallace, 2001, Sue Brown, 2002 and India Stroope, 2005.

Entertainment was provided by Glenn and Karla Parmelee, the First Baptist Church Minister of Music and pianist.

Others attending the luncheon were Gladys Crouch, city council representative for Beta Sigma Phi, Nita Beale and Roberta Boggs, from Beta Sigma Phi.

36 of the 60 First Ladies of Kilgore are deceased.

The First Lady Valentine's Day Luncheon had the 2006 First Lady Martha Clark honoring the 2007 First Lady Luan Lovelace (top left photo) The 18 attending First Ladies were (center photo front row left to right) Luan Lovelace, Margie Morton, Margaret Martin, Virginia Long, Justine Stanley, Helen "Pudge" Griffin and Frankie Florey. (back row left to right) Betty Jo Mobley, Jo Hancock, Latane Speer, Doyline Rhodes, Sue Brown, Wanda Bittick, Virginia Wallace, Nina Fern Nichols, India Stroope, Martha Clark and Ellen Watson. (First Ladies Jeanne Hale, Carol Hinton, Annie Ballard, Oleta Gray, Roxanne Miller Elder and Nannette Wickham could not attend) (photo upper right) Glenn and Karla Parmelee performing. (bottom photos, left to right) Decorations were splendid at the Frist Baptist Church Parlor. Gladys Crouch, city council representative for Beta Sigma Phi helped with the luncheon.