Marilyn Tate
Marilyn Jean Tate Witte (born March 2, 1933 in Haleyville, Winston County; died June 26, 2016 in Gulf Shores, Baldwin County) was the winner of the 1954 Miss Alabama pageant.
Marilyn was the daughter of Thomas E. and Alalynn Tate. She attended the Birmingham Conservatory of Music and earned her bachelor of arts in music, majoring in piano performance, at Birmingham-Southern College. For her pageant talent, she performed a ventriloquist act with a puppet named "Emma Tate", during which she also included a piano bit. She finished in the top 10 at that year's Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Tate went on to attend the University of Alabama. She married Holt McDowell Jr, a vascular surgeon and son of long-time Jefferson County Sheriff Holt McDowell in 1955. The couple had two daughters, Brenda and Lori.
She was divorced from McDowell in 1983. In June 1988 she was married to retired U.S. Navy officer Anton Witte. They resided in Gulf Shores in Baldwin County, but she also kept her home in Mountain Brook.
Witte died in 2016 and is buried alongside her second husband at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.
| Preceded by: Virginia McDavid |
Miss Alabama 1954 |
Succeeded by: Patricia Huddleston |
References
External links
- Marilyn T. Witte at Findagrave.com