This bust of Evelyn Gandy stands just inside the MS Senate chamber, recognizing her as the first woman elected to statewide office in Mississippi.
Lt. Gov. Gandy is shown from the mid-chest up, without arms. She is dressed in a late 1970s professional woman's suit, with double-breasted jacket over a feminine V-necked shell and string of pearls. Her hair is nearly arranged to frame her face, which is smiling. Her face is accented by a pair of rounded glasses. She appears to be about 55 years old. The bust may be close to life size, and may have been sculpted from a photograph.
The plaque on the wooden plinth supporting the bust reads as follows:
EVELYN GANDY
LT. GOVERNOR
1976-1980
Evelyn Gandy became the first woman in Mississippi elected statewide to serve as State Treasurer, Commissioner of Insurance, and Lieutenant Governor. She also served as Public Welfare Commissioner and in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Her career in public service lasted more than 50 years and was marked by integrity, dignity, and honesty. She opened more doors for women than any other woman in her era. Her public service truly made a difference. Commissioned by the Mississippi Bar Women in the Profession Committee - 2010
Sam Gore, Sculptor.
From the Mississippi College website: (
visit link)
"Mississippi Capitol Showcases Sam Gore's Evelyn Gandy Sculpture
March 9, 2010
Internationally celebrated artist Sam Gore's latest sculpture - one of the late Lt. Gov. Evelyn Gandy- will soon have a permanent home in the Mississippi Capitol.
Supporters of "Miss Evelyn," a prominent Hattiesburg attorney and trailblazer as the state's first female lieutenant governor, will be on hand for the unveiling of the bronze statue 11 a.m. Thursday in the Old Supreme Court chambers.
Just blocks from the Capitol, Sam Gore's magnificent bronze sculptures of Jesus and Moses are on display at an exterior wall of the Mississippi School of Law on East Griffith Street. The sculptures at the MC law school have won over the hearts of visitors from as far away as Russia.
A retired Mississippi College Art Department chairman and 1951 MC alumnus from Clinton, Gore has been at work on the Gandy sculpture for four months at his home in Hinds County.
"It is my most recent project," Gore said Tuesday. "I never met her, but knew of her. I worked from photographs from a committee of five women attorneys led by (former) Supreme Court Justice Kay Cobb."
The new statue is life-sized from the waist up. The bronze sculpture weighs about 100 pounds. It was cast at the Lugar Foundry near Memphis.
The Gandy bust will be permanently housed in the Old Supreme Court chambers on the building's second floor.
The Women in the Profession Committee of The Mississippi Bar raised money and commissioned the bust by the retired MC professor. The Legislature gave it\'s OK to place the small statue in the Capitol.
A longtime lawmaker who broke new ground as the state's first female lieutenant governor in the late 1970s, Gandy died in December 2007 at the age of 87. A former state senator, Amy Tuck served a few years ago as Mississippi's second female lieutenant governor. Gandy was viewed as a role model for Tuck and many other women in Mississippi politics.
In an Associated Press story by reporter Jack Elliott, Kay Cobb said the Capitol was chosen as the place to honor Gandy because it was "where she reached the pinnacle of her career as lieutenant governor."
The Capitol is also home to portraits of Mississippi's past governors.
Gore's MC colleagues are delighted to see the Gandy statue on permanent display at the Capitol starting March 11. Gandy has many admirers all over the Magnolia State. So does Gore.
"I think it is great," said MC art department chairman Randy Miley. "This is another dimension to his work."
Miley and Gore Galleries Director Randy Jolly will be on hand for the program at the Capitol. Cobb will be among the speakers. "It is really good a Mississippi College artist was selected to do this," Miley said.
This isn't Sam Gore's first piece of work connected with Mississippi politics. Many years ago, Gore crafted a portrait of the late U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis. The Mississippi College professor flew to Washington to drop off the portrait at the Mississippi senator's office on Capitol Hill."