In 1978, the Golden Triangle chapter of the Public Relations Association of Mississippi was founded. That year the first mobile phone was introduced, movies PRAM members could have attended after a chapter meeting were Greece, Saturday Night Fever or Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Ashton Kutcher was born.
Today, the movies you might select to see will be different, a new type of phone is being promoted everyday it seems but some have endured through time, exemplifying that a good practitioner of public relations will change with the times and never settle for anything but success!
This person has become a community icon and is so well known is often asked to help support other organizations as they launch new ideas, events and campaigns.
Most know her as Mother Goose, others know her as Miz Claus; her actual name is Edwina Williams and PRAM-GT could not be more proud that she calls our chapter home.
Just in the past year besides her duties as the Children’s Librarian at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library: she has entertained children for the Young People’s Artist Series, she participates in the Christmas Parade as Miz Clause and has done so as long as any can remember, she greets people each year at the Wassail Fest for Main Street Columbus, and is a ghost story teller for the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau. She not only participates in the Clean Sweep Columbus program by picking up litter and debris throughout the city, her character Mother Goose was the star of the television commercial encouraging others to join her. Mother Goose never says no; just ask the ladies at the Junior Auxiliary when they put on their Pilgrimage pageant and need that special character, Edwina Williams is the one they come to as well as the Pilgrimage Homeowners who need a hostess.
Mother Goose is always ready to play the piano to liven up a dull party and takes her melodies into nursing homes and any place a group of children might be. She is ready to entertain children with stories that help them learn and imagine and there is a smile on everyone’s face as she enters and exits a room!
Her work has taking her all around the Golden Triangle, including Artesia, Caledonia, New Hope and in every local school engaging children of all ages. In fact, Edwina has taken her show to Birmingham, Atlanta and Washington D.C. so others could enjoy the wonderful world of Mother Goose.
She founded the Mother Goose Entertainment Business the same year PRAM-GT was established. She has published three children’s books and collaborated on stories for publication with faculty member from Mississippi State University. She is a Golden Girl from Mississippi University for Women, and recently received the 2010 Town and Tower Community Service Award and was the recipient of PRAM-GT’s 2010 Internal Practitioner of the Year. Edwina established a scholarship in honor of her late husband at the School of Veterinarian Medicine. Her lifelong commitment to children to believe in themselves earned her recognition by a Mississippi Governor as one of the Most Influential Women in the State.
There are so many other endeavors in which Edwina Williams participates – too many to name. Her story exemplifies what a great Public Relations Professional is all about. You can learn more about Mother Goose or become a fan of her Facebook page!
PRAM is part of
the Southern Public Relations Federation
Rex Kelly
retired, Southern Company/Mississippi Power
Photographs courtesy of Hattiesburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, Oxford Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau and Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. Site Developed by Melissa Lott Designs
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