Queens of the centennial; looking back on a grand tradition of local royalty

Nevada Herald

Vernon County's centennial celebration was marked with much pomp and circumstance, with two local ladies at the center of it all.

Miss Centennial, Phyllis Koehler, led the grand march at the Centennial Ball, and reigned over the parade, before a crowd estimated to number 25,000.

The Nevada Daily Mail reported in July that "the audience was one of the largest ever drawn in the county for any type of celebration. The entire route of the parade, from the State Hospital Gate down Ash Street, around the Square and out Main to Atlantic, was lined on both sides with individuals."

Miss Centennial and Miss Vernon County, Linda Spillman, were both given cash awards. Koehler won $200; Spillman won $100.

Koehler has since passed away. Spillman, who later married John Edmiston, shared a few memories.

The ball, she said, was truly spectacular.

"People came from all over. And they had a big dance at the Skyline. We wore big robes, the governor came and escorted us. They had so much going on, then. There were tons of things to do," Edmiston said.

John Dalton, Missouri Attorney General, crowned Koehler, before the first night of the Spectacular Centennial Pageant.

Newspaper accounts also reported that due to sunburns, the makeup crew at the pageant "had quite a job filling in the white patches and making them red on the girls that had to wear strapless gowns for the performance."

"It was quite an event," Edmiston recalls.