West Virginia University senior computer science major Nathan Horne has reason to be proud this Homecoming.

His grandmother, Mary Lou Bullard Moore WVU s first Homecoming Queenhas been selected 2004 parade marshal and will lead the dozens of floats, bands and other units down High Street Friday, Nov. 5. She will also be honored at halftime of the WVU -Temple Homecoming game the following day.

Now 84 and widowed, Moore resides in Charleston, where she devotes much of her time to her church and volunteer activities.

WVU recently got re-acquainted with Mrs. Moore when popular Charleston Gazette columnist Sandy Wells featured her in a wonderful story about being the Universitys first Homecoming queen,said Steve Douglas, president and chief executive officer of the WVU Alumni Association.As our first queen, we believe Mrs. Moore represents one of the many great traditions at WVU . She has been a loyal alumna and supporter of WVU , and we are excited to welcome her back to campus as parade marshal.

Interestingly, Moore not only served as WVU s Homecoming Queen in 1939, but also as All-American College Queen, a competition sponsored by Paramount Pictures and Radio Guide magazine the following year.

The Wheeling native was a 20-year-old blonde, dimpled sophomore at the time. As the Gazette story goes, her college friend and Beta Theta Pi fraternity member Bill Millerthen editor of a WVU humor magazine, Moonshinesubmitted her name for the nationwide competition.

Without telling her, Miller mailed a picture of Moore from homecoming cradling a bouquet of long-stemmed mums to the contest judges, then set out to make her a winner by buying up the magazine, clipping the voting coupon and handing it out to her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters and friends to send in.

Moore was chosenfrom a field of 467as one of the 17 finalists and was flown to Chicago, where the field was narrowed to 15. Then it was on to Galesburg, Ill., for the film premiere ofThose Were the Days,where she won the glamorous All-American College Queen crown.

The honor earned her and her mother a trip to Hollywood, where she had a series of meet and greets and photo shoots with such stars as Robert Preston, Preston Foster, Jackie Cooper and Dorothy Lamour. She also appeared in Mademoiselle magazine, some catalogs and movie magazines and in national newspapers.

She turned down a Hollywood screen test, however, because she didnt think she could act.

That trip was a dream,Bullard Moore said.Hollywood was exciting, but I quickly realized I didnt want to stay there,she said..

After her Hollywood experience and the completion of her degree in 1942, Bullard Moore worked at RCA in Indianapolis until her marriage in 1943 to engineer Wendell Moore of Clarksburg. He was also a WVU grad (Class of 1940) and her college sweetheart. The partnership lasted 58 years until his death two years ago.

After career stops in Wichita, Kan., and Denver, Colo., the couple returned to Charleston in 1974.

Im happy for her,said grandson Nathan, who grew up near Bullard Moore from the third grade on. But he never knew of her beauty queen days until a couple of years ago, he claims.

Since then Ive seen the news clippings and photographs, and think its great,he said. It willdefinitely be interestingto see her leading the parade and on the field at halftime, he noted, especially since he attends all the games and never expected in his wildest dreams to see his grandmother on the field.

I am very honored that the University has asked me to do this, and I am looking forward to coming back after such a long time away,said Bullard Moore.Its been quite a few years since Ive been to a football game, and Im sure there are so many changes to the campus. Some of the happiest days Ive ever known were spent at WVU .

There were only about 3,000 students back then, she recalled, and everyone knew everyone else.

And, if you didnt know them, you spoke to them anyway,she noted.And being a Kappa was great. I still keep in touch with some of my sorority sisters. Just today, I went to an alumni meeting on the island (Hilton Head, where she visits several times a year).

Asked about the competition, Bullard Moore said she doesnt remember specifics about an interview or voting process, but she does remember the thrill of riding down High Street on the back of a convertible and being crowned at halftime of the game in the old stadium.

Accompanying Bullard Moore to Morgantown for this years Homecoming activities will be daughter Mary WendellWendyHorne of Charleston. She also has two sons: Roderick Moore of Richlands, Va.; and Brenton Moore of Houston.

While her children did not attend WVU , Bullard Moores late father, Arch H. Bullard, was a WVU graduate and played on the football team in the early 1900s. Her brother, Arch Jr., was also a WVU graduate. He obtained a two-year medical degree offered at WVU at the time and finished his course work at Northwestern before going on to practice as an ob-gyn in Chattanooga, Tenn. He, too, married a Kappa, Bullard Moore said.

In researching homecoming celebrations, WVU officials found that the first organized Homecoming activities were held in 1910; but the first record of a queen was in 1939.