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1968 – BEVERLY (CLARK) WIGINTON
“I
was just very involved in high school. It was natural for me.” Beverly Wiginton – then Clark – was Franklin County’s Junior Miss in 1968, participating in the competition as a natural extension of her passion for being involved in just about everything. The Russellville High alum was a majorette and sought different leadership positions during her high school years. She said she enjoyed school and was friendly with all her classmates. Outside the classroom, she enjoyed activities like swimming, water skiing and boating. After high school, she originally planned to go to The University of Alabama, but she followed a boyfriend to Florence State University, which later became the University of North Alabama. When they broke up, she moved on to Auburn University. “My dad graduated from Alabama, and my mother graduated from Auburn,” Wiginton explained. “I could have gone to either and they would have been happy.” Although she was majoring in biology, Wiginton said she was really working on her “MRS degree.” After two years at Auburn she got married and started a family in the Florence area. While her two daughters were young, she started a jewelry business called Sidelines, LTD in the late 1970s. “I just kind of fell into it and realized it was natural for me … I had a storefront in English Village in Florence. We designed jewelry and started a lot of fads, actually,” Wiginton said. “Cloisonné beads – we made those popular. They were round beads made in China. They were enamel. Every time they put a color on them, they
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fired them again, so it was a long process. They were beautiful – all colors and with flowers on them.” “We made all kinds of earrings and necklaces,” added
Wiginton, who started the shop with one other woman before bringing two additional jewelry-makers in later on. After their beginnings operating out of the top floor of another shop, they then progressed to their own storefront. “It was a lot of juggling,” said Wiginton, who had to balance jewelry-making and selling with being the mother of two young girls, Dawn and Kira. “They loved it – the older they got, especially, because they enjoyed the benefits.” The burgeoning jewelry artist went through a divorce from her first husband, but she soon married Phil Wiginton after mutual friends introduced them. The two have now been happily married 35 years. In 1995 she decided to get out of the jewelry business. “We sold it as an ongoing business, and it’s still going on today,” Wiginton said. “That’s close to my heart.” Jewelry-making would not be Wiginton’s last artistic endeavor. With a non-compete clause in place, she needed to find another outlet than jewelry-making. That’s when she took up pottery. “Most of it is utilitarian – you can use it and cook it,” said Wiginton, who has now been crafting pottery pieces for 17 years. For a long time her signature piece were ikebana vases. “I sold hundreds of them because they are just so neat.” The unique vases are designed to be part of the traditional Japanese flower arrangement style for which they are named. Hand-crafted egg trays are now Wiginton’s bread and butter, but she said she enjoys trying different pieces. “I start with a flat slab and just mold it,” she explained.
See WIGINTON, Page 10
1969 – DIANNE (WAGES) PACE
n a scrapbook Dianne Wages Pace’s mother made for her, she preserves the memories of her youth – among them, of her time as Franklin County’s Junior Miss. Newspaper clippings tell the story, details documented on aging yellow newsprint. “I never was one to be interested in pageants,” said Pace, a retired Russellville schoolteacher. “I just kind of did it on a whim. I knew there was scholarship money attached to it, so I thought that would be a good thing, too.” Back then the Franklin County program was coordinated by the Russellville Jaycees, and the winner might be referred to as Franklin County Junior Miss or a variation on that title including the Jaycee designation. Pace was crowned – because yes, a crowning was part of the honor at that time – at the Jaycees’ Franklin County Fair. During her high school years at Russellville, Pace said she was an active student, particularly in the arts. “I loved anything theatrical and the arts,” Pace said. “I was really involved in any of our drama production or chorus things.” She was president of the Glee Club, and much of her time was dedicated to playing oboe and clarinet and being a majorette in the Marching Hundred Band. “I took art in the summer from Lela Ray,” Pace said. “She taught us different techniques
Pace peruses the scrapbook made for her by her mother, memorializing her growing up years. Among its pages are news clippings from Pace’s Junior Miss experience. Pace, a retired schoolteacher, has also written several books – the latest (not pictured) being her children’s book “Too Many Santas,” released during the 2021 holiday season. – water color, oils, and the best thing she did was ordered a potter’s wheel, and she taught us how to work with clay.” Oil painting became a love Pace continues to this day.
Home ec was another passion; Pace was also president of the Future Homemakers of America. She said this passion was one she discovered under high school home
economics teacher Dot Murphy. “She was a fantastic, phenomenal teacher, as was Mrs. Ray. They both had strong influences on me.” After high school Pace attended Florence State. She first majored in music, with designs on a career path as a school music teacher, but she later shifted her focus to elementary education. Pace and her husband Barry – they married during her freshman year of college, 1969 – moved to Georgia in 1971 for his teaching job. She finished her bachelor’s degree at Tift College of Education, Mercer University, graduating in 1972, and immediately got a job as a first-grade teacher. In the first nine years of her career, Pace did wind up teaching music, as well as halfday kindergarten, sixth grade and second grade, in addition to her first role in first grade. The Paces moved back to Alabama in 1982 to care for Barry’s ailing parents. Pace taught kindergarten in Russellville from 1983-1994 before moving back into first grade from 19942000. “I loved teaching young children because I love interacting with them, and I love what they teach me – as much as what I teach them,” she said. “Young children are so inquisitive, and they are so ready to learn. They are just like big ol’ sponges – they just
See PACE, Page 10
