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When Pat Chadwick Lamar was Ole Miss' homecoming queen in 1961, she hardly dreamed she would be the first woman elected to Oxford municipal government – no less its mayor for four years. Since moving to the Lafayette County seat, the former UM cheerleader has been involved in virtually every phase of town life – as president of the Library boosters, Oxford Garden Club, Kappa Delta Sorority House Corporation, and was Meals on Wheels' volunteer activist award winner in 1979. She has served on numerous boards of directors, including the local Economic Development Foundation and North Mississippi Industrial Development Association, and is on the Mississippi Committee for the Trent Lott Leadership Institute at Ole Miss. A member of Oxford-University United Methodist Church, she has been a trustee, on its official board and is a member of the Council on Ministries Programming Committee and church administrative board. The mother of three and 1963 UM grad was named the School of Education's Alumnus of the Year in 1999. On the state level, Lamar has been treasurer of Friends of the Mississippi Library Commission and on the board of the International Visitors Center of Jackson. She also reigned briefly as Miss Mississippi in 1960, when the winner had to step aside prematurely. Her city government career began in 1981 as an alderman and then mayor pro tempore. Elected mayor in 1997, she served on the board of the Mississippi Municipal Association and lists many accomplishments during that time, including opening city board appointments to all interested citizens, renovation of Oxford Square, and construction of Oxford-University Baseball Stadium using tourism tax funding. The Patricia C. Lamar Park and Lake Patsy is a 67 acre tract of land formerly know as the Oxford Country Club and golf course that the City bought during her term and converted into a City Park that includes a lake and walking/jogging path. The City has future plans for plantings and building an amphitheater. This property is now one of the jewels of the City. It is used by all residents and guests in overwhelming numbers. While mayor Lamar also helmed the rebuilding of the Oxford Armory in partnership with all levels of state and local government. This facility is now known as the Oxford Conference Center and the Patricia C. Lamar Readiness Center. It houses the University of Mississippi Rifle Arena and is a tourism tool for the entire area. Lamar also is known at the national level as a member of the Women's Progress Commemoration Commission, the President's Commission on Race, and in Republican Party circles as a three-time delegate to the national convention.
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