Miss Texas in Review

As Miss Texas, she entertained people throughout the state of Texas in 1940 and 1941, and entertained with the USO and Red Cross at military bases during World War II.

She married Adrian Evans in 1946 and is the mother of four children: Dr. Stephan Evans of Roswell, New Mexico; Randy Evans, a Pharmacist in Pensacola, Florida; Barbara Hanley of Nederland, Texas; and Candi Newsome of Shreveport, Louisiana. With nine grandchildren, Gloria was named "1989 Mother of the Year" in Port Neches, Texas. Currently a Beauty Consultant for a local cosmetics studio, she spends her time traveling with her husband, being a house wife, playing bridge, and collecting antique dolls.

She has remained physically active, playing tennis three or four times a week. If people will recall, June rode a horse in the Miss America Parade, rather than riding in the traditional convertible…but she no longer rides horses!!

Since she is in the Metroplex area, she has attended the Miss Texas Pageant several times in the past few years, and really enjoys meeting each Miss Texas as the end of her year of service as she and other former Miss Texases induct the "retiring" Miss Texas into the sorority of ex-Miss Texases. Since 2005 will be her 50th anniversary of being crowned Miss Texas, June is hoping to be able to attend the 2005 Miss Texas Pageant in July.

Mary Nell is a 1954 graduate from Texas Wesleyan College and began her teaching career at the age of 18 in Arlington. When her four children were small she stopped teaching to enjoy being at home with her family. Being a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother continues to be a special highlight in her life. Mary Nell began a real estate career in the 80's and was named "Arlington's Rookie of the Year" in l983. She went on to become a multimillion-dollar producer for several years before returning to teaching. In 1987 when the Miss Arlington Pageant was in financial trouble, she raised $5000 to help. In 2000 the AISD Superintendent supported her grassroots campaign she called TNT (Teachers Networking Together) to organize teachers across the district to work for the successful tax cap increase in Arlington. She used the same campaign strategy state wide later that same year when she lobbied the state legislature in Austin to provide teachers with more affordable health insurance. During that time, she was a guest columnist for the Dallas Morning News editorial page concerning the need for better and more affordable health insurance for teachers. Qualities that seem to be consistent in all of her endeavors are enthusiasm, hard work, and determination. Her first principal, Hubert Morton, told her many years later that she was "the best first year teacher he'd had in his 50 years as an administrator." Persis Forster told her many years later that she "worked harder than any contestant she had ever worked with." Mary Nell holds dear these two people and their compliments. After 30 years of teaching, she retired in 2002 to pursue her other loves of flower gardening, photography, and watercolor painting. She is married to Dr. Bill Hubbard.

Mary Nell is an enthusiastic organic flower gardener and does watercolor paintings of flowers grown in her own perennial garden. She started painting in l990 and makes note cards with copies of her original paintings for family and friends. She completed the training and volunteer requirements to become a Tarrant County Master Gardener in 2003. Presently, there are two web sites featuring Mary Nell's garden. One is on the City of Arlington's web site under the Smart Yard Contest where her garden was named "Best Design." The second feature is a profile and pictures on the Tarrant County Master Gardeners Association web site. Click her name for the interview and click 'about her garden' for pictures. http://www.tcmga.org/member_gallery.htm

In November of 2003 Mary Nell was invited to speak to both the Arlington Historical Society and the Old Timers Club. She put together a power point presentation using around 200 pictures and articles from her Miss Texas year and narrated it as she spoke. Beginning in November of 2003, the Fielder Museum honored Mary Nell's Miss Texas memories by having a full display in the museum of all of her Miss Texas memorabilia for the public to see. The display, with trophies, pictures, articles, gowns with hoops, clothes with hats and gloves, and many other things from that era told the story from beginning to end of that year 47 years ago in Mary Nell's life. She enjoyed getting the display together for the museum and in doing so, it revived many memories that had slipped away through the years and put her back in touch with friends and students from that era. The highlight of the three-month display at the Fielder Museum was an open house in January 2004 and Mary Nell enjoyed greeting a steady stream of friends who came.

The University of Texas at Arlington manuscript archivist of special collections has asked Mary Nell for her Miss Texas collection of pictures and articles. They are to be placed in the university library archives. She is pleased to have been asked and is happy to share it with those who are interested.

To quote Mary Nell, "The trip down memory lane of a year 47 years ago brought back memories of a glamorous, exiting, fun, and very, very busy year. It was a year full of wonderful adventures for me. Many wonderful things have happened and continue to happen in my life and I am thankful for all of them."

Janice and The Reverend Jim Cord have been married for 32 years and together they have three sons, Jamie, John and Joshua. Their son Jamie and his wife have blessed them with two grandsons, Mason and Aidan. John recently completed a Master's degree in Music from Yale University and Joshua is a Sophomore at the University of Iowa.

Before starting her career in education, Janice sang professionally in several venues including Dallas Summer Musicals and Casa Mañana. Through the years, has been a featured vocalist for the National Anthem at various events.

Janice continues to work in the Miss America Program, with extensive judging on the local level and serving as an Executive Director in Oklahoma and Des Moines. Their Des Moines local has grown from one title to six, with the responsibility of preparing six of the total 18 contestants who compete for the title of Miss Iowa.

Very active as an Elder and choir member in her church, Janice has even been known to "preach" in her husband's absence.

Tamara spends most of her time going to band competitions, sporting events and volunteering in various clubs and organizations that are meaningful to her or to her family. She is a Board Member at The Gladney Center for Adoption, The Mansfield Education Foundation and MHS Tiger band Boosters.