Kilgore First Lady to be named Friday Public meeting held

The 2008 First Lady Banquet is set and the new First Lady has been chosen, but her identity will remain secret until Friday night.

This will be the 61st First Lady Banquet, sponsored by Beta Sigma Phi Sorority and honoring the women of Kilgore for their involvement in community life.

The banquet will honor all First Ladies of Kilgore for the past 60 years, which began in 1948 starting with Olga Lapin. Other honorees since then include Frances Gertz, Elsie Canterbury, Frances Taylor, Lyde Devall, Polly Reeder, Ellen Watson, June Gardner, Marguerite Wylie, Mary Laird Coffee, Viven Thyng, Bess Kennedy, Nannette Wickham, Ruth Ross, Estella Proctor, Margaret Downs, Margaret Martin, Maggie Lynn Crim, Ruth Habenicht, Zelna Kane, Helen K. Smith, Annie Lou Winton Ballard, Jessie Armstrong, Thelma Perkins, Helen Allton, Nelda Lewis, Verdine Ford, Margie Morton, Betty Mobley, Roxanne Elder Miller, Louise Florey, Jo Hancock, Justine Stanley, Nora Elder, Lucille Butts, Gilda Gildart, Mary Bonham, Virginia Long, Ruth Middlebrook, Helen (Pudge) Griffin, Thelma Morris, Frankie Florey, Caroline Ross, Helen Wylie, Oleta Gray, Mary Meador, Margaret McCord, Mary Gibson, Latane Speer, Doyline Rhodes, Wanda Bittick, Nina Fern Nichols, Jeanne Hale, Virginia Wallace, Sue Brown, Nancy Grisham, Carol Hinton, India Stroope, Martha Clark and Luan Lovelace.

Presently 21 First Ladies live in Kilgore, three live out of town and 36 are deceased.

These women were and are leaders in everything that makes Kilgore what it is today, a city that honors faith, family and community, Beta Sigma Phi says.

Ellen Watsons said she was recently asked what a First Lady is. "I opened my mouth to reply, then hestitated," she said. "I realized I was not all that certain, what characteristics have all First Ladies shown."

Watson went on to say a First Lady is a gracious woman, soft spoken and tactful, cherishes husband, family and friends, is interested in others, possesses warmth and empathy, is known to all as one who loves home, country and God and is known to God alone for her little unrecognized acts of kindness, of charity and love.

The chapers making up the Kilgore City Council of Beta Sigma Phi are Preceptor Omicron Epsilon, Xi Pi Mu, Xi Alpha Delta Omega, Beta Gamma Psi and Preceptor Liambda Delta.

Representatives who wil be attending this years banquet from those chapters are Jennifer Utzman, Debra Albertson, Marcela Harkrider, Vickie Clayton, Sherry Lockman, Diann Pickard, Amy Velvin, April Watson, Denise Reinert, Amber Taylor, Jayanna Laird, Nita Beale, Judy Geddie and Gladys Crouch, president of the council for 2008.