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Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award

John Hines Preaching Award
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award
Dean's Cross
Congratulations to the 2013 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans (LPWE) Award recipient, Mr. G. Gates De Hart III from Roanoke, VA. This award celebrates the vitally important ministry of the laity in the church and beyond.

The award is given each year by the Seminary to honor an Episcopal layperson who, over a significant period of time, has given leadership and unique witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ within his or her congregation, community, Diocese and in the world.

Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans was born February 21, 1872, in Bedford County, Virginia. She married Joseph Brown Whitehead of Oxford, Mississippi, at St. John's Episcopal Church in Bedford on October 8, 1894. Mr. Whitehead was one of the original bottlers of Coca-Cola. The Whiteheads were well-known and respected in Atlanta and generous to community causes. When Mr. Whitehead died in 1906 of pneumonia at age 42, Mrs. Whitehead assumed complete command of the family's Coca-Cola interests which led to her appointment to the Board of the Coca-Cola Company in 1934. Seven years after her first husband’s death, she married Col. Arthur Kelly Evans, a retired Canadian Army officer.

Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans was a devoted member of the Episcopal Church and gave unselfishly to its activities. During her lifetime, she contributed to over 130 different charities and institutions, including Virginia Theological Seminary, with the intent of fostering religion and education and relieving and comforting the underprivileged and the afflicted. Mrs. Evans was known for her concern for others and a genuine benevolent spirit. She died in 1953 after an extended illness. Virginia Theological Seminary established The Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award in 1998 in order to more fully honor her life and ministry.

Nominations for the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award may come from bishops, clergy, or lay people. Candidates for the award must be active laypersons and communicants in good standing of an Episcopal congregation and must reside in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia.

Nomination Requirements
To submit a nomination for the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award, please provide us with responses to the following questions:
      1. Name and address of the nominee.
      2. Nominator’s name, address, email and telephone number.
      3. The nominee must be a confirmed communicant in good standing in the Episcopal Church. Name and address of the nominee’s parish, rector, bishop and diocese.
      4. Describe ways in which your nominee has exercised leadership in a volunteer capacity within his or her congregation, community, diocese and in the world over a significant period of time.
      5. Describe how your nominee has embodied a unique witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ within his or her congregation, community, diocese and in the world over a significant period of time.
      6. Additional biographical information.
      7. Name, address, phone number, email and fax number of two persons who know your nominee well.
              8. Other comments and letters of endorsement.
 
Contact Us
The Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award Advisory Council
Virginia Theological Seminary
3737 Seminary Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22304