By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
One of the favorite Capitol attractions for the girls in Kentucky’s first family has always been the showcases where commemorative dolls of governors’ wives are on display.
“It’s going to be a little bit surreal for them to think their mom is going to be in this case now,” First Lady Glenna Bevin said recently at a ceremony unveiling the miniature porcelain doll attired in a reproduction of the gown, hairstyle, and even the shoes she wore to the inaugural ball.
Bevin’s doll joined more than 60 others on display at the Capitol more than a year after her husband took office. The slower-than-usual arrival was because one of the dolls arms had been broken off and had to be repaired.
“She had an accident or two, but we got her all fixed up,” said Susan Alexander of Marion, a member of the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs, which oversees the exhibit that includes likenesses of every first lady dating back the very first, Susanna Hart Selby, in 1792.
Helen Evans of Lexington, a past president of the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs, got the idea for the display in 1970.
“I had the opportunity to chaperone groups of students to Washington D.C., and the Smithsonian collection of first ladies was always the top item they wanted to see,” Evans said.
Evans approached then-First Lady Beulah Nunn, wife of Gov. Louie B. Nunn, about creating a similar display for Kentucky’s first ladies.
“It didn’t take much persuading, because she thought it would really add to the Capitol,” Evans said.
Another member of the group, Pheobe McCoy of Cattlettsburg, gets credit for finding matching porcelain to repair the Bevin doll’s broken arm. No visible sign of the break remains.
Bevin said she thinks the doll is beautiful.
“The woman who designed her is very, very sweet, and she did such a great job,” Bevin said. “She’s very attentive to detail.”
The Bevin girls weren’t pleased that they missed the unveiling of the doll because of tests in advance of spring break.
“They were quite bummed,” Bevin said.