A native Port Arthurian, Gloria Byrns Evans was born in 1922, and grew up here. Following graduation from Thomas Jefferson High in 1941, Gloria continued her studies at Lamar College in nearby Beaumont. By that time (in 1940 to be exact) she had entered and won the title of Miss Port Arthur on the old Strand Theater stage in downtown Port Arthur. The same year she entered the Miss Texas competition at Mineral Wells, the Boston Shoe Co. fronting $6.00 for her a swim-suit for the pageant, with the understanding that she would represent that firm. Gloria performed a drum major dancing routine for the talent portion of the contest. This performance earned her the title of Miss Texas but she did not win that prestigious national title of Miss America at Atlantic City that year. With the outbreak of WW II the next year, Gloria was once again selected to represent the State of Texas in Atlantic City, but this time, before the pageant concluded, Gloria went down with strep throat and had to be confined to a hospital. Therefore, she missed a rare second chance to gain that coveted title. Fox News broadcast the unusual event for nationwide theater audiences at the time and more recently, Gloria was featured in an August 1, 1995, National Examiner article, as state pageant authorities belatedly awarded the crown she worked so hard to back in 1941.

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