Evelyn Williams
Evelyn Tully Williams (born 1919 in Mississippi) was a shop clerk at Kress and became Miss Vulcan in the Vulcan Dedication Celebration.
Evelyn Tully was the daughter of a minister and moved to Sulligent (Lamar County) in 1925 and then to Birmingham in 1929 where he took over the pulpit at Wylam Baptist Church. Before she was 20 she took a job as a clerk at Kress department store. In 1939 she was selected to represent the store in the pageant celebrating the dedication of Vulcan Park.
The store's manager, J. C. Inglis, toured various civic clubs with her to raise sponsors for her candidacy as "Vulcan Queen". Her friends and fellow church-members helped to sell the 50-cent tickets that catapulted her to the top of the slate as radio stations updated listeners nightly on the evolving count.
Tully led from start to finish and was crowned on May 7, the first day of the 10-day celebration by Erskine Ramsay in front of a crowd of 5,000. She received a week's paid vacation to make appearances around town.
One of the buyers of her tickets was Glenn Williams. They met at a church function a few weeks after the pageant and married a year later. The couple had two daughters, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
In 2004 the story of "Miss Vulcan" was recounted in a Birmingham News article by Bill Caton. The article served as the inspiration for the 2007 Red Mountain Theatre musical Miss Vulcan 1939.
Williams, widowed in 2006, resides in Hoover.
Reference
- Caldwell, Carla (March 21, 1999) "Queen in 1939 Evelyn Williams says it was 'like being Cinderella'." The Birmingham News
- Caton, Bill (March 3, 2004) "Vulcan's Queen: Hoover woman recalls her special reign 65 years ago." The Birmingham News
- Folse, Molly (September 6, 2007) "Pageant revival: New play re-imagines the crowning of Miss Vulcan 1939". Birmingham Weekly.
- Kemp, Kathy (September 6, 2007) "Queen reigns again Winner reminisces about pageant that made her a queen".