Writer: Mark Rice
Published July 19, 2021
Ledger-Enquirer
District 4 residents showed the respect they had for Evelyn Turner Pugh by repeatedly electing her to Columbus Council.
Her fellow councilors showed the respect they had for Pugh by repeatedly electing her mayor pro tem. And the pews packed with a diversity of mourners — from regular people to elected officials — showed that respect ran deep and wide.
Mourners honored Pugh during her funeral Monday in Revelation Missionary Baptist Church. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nearly two decades ago, she died Saturday at St. Francis Hospital. She was 71.
Pugh served on the council for 30 years before resigning in October 2019 due to health conditions. She rose from a childhood on the dirt streets of “The Bottom” section of Columbus to the second-highest elected office in the municipal government responsible for paving such streets.
Along that journey, she blazed a trail that made her the first Black woman elected to Columbus Council and Mayor Pro Tem.
The Rev. Adrian Chester of Greater Beallwood Baptist Church and president of the Columbus Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, launched a standing ovation when he thanked God “for the gift of Evelyn Turner Pugh.”
Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson wore a red tie in tribute to Pugh’s service to Delta Sigma Theta sorority, where she was chapter president and chaired the scholarship gala.
Henderson sat next to Pugh when they served on the council together. He drew laughs from the crowd in the sanctuary when he recalled the gift he gave Pugh upon her retirement to symbolize the kicks she gave him under the table.
“The shin guard was a joke,” he said, “the education was not.”
Henderson called Pugh a hero.
“She mentored me and countless others,” he said. “… Her character, her integrity, her resilience, her willingness to fight for what she believed. Let me tell you: She wore velvet gloves but had brass knuckles in her purse. You wouldn’t want to be on the opposite side of an issue with Ms. Pugh.”
Pugh was the campaign treasurer for U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., and the congressman read from the church pulpit the tribute he submitted to the Congressional Record.
“She gave so much to so many for so long,” he said, “and she continued until she could give no more.”
Two words best describe Pugh, said state Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus: dedication and commitment.
“There are great, long lines of servants in this community,” he said, “but she is at the top of the class.”
State Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, looking at her casket, said, “Job well done, public servant.”
Angela Hill, representing the Revelation congregation, referred to Pugh as her church mother.
“She would tell you what you needed to hear,” Hill said, “not what you wanted to hear.”
In October 2019, the council appointed the Rev. Valerie Thompson, the Revelation pastor, to fill the District 4 seat until the June 2020 special election, won by Toyia Tucker.
In her eulogy, Thompson referenced 2nd Timothy 4:7, in which Paul says, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
Thompson said, “Evelyn, just like Paul, I believe, considered her life as an offering to the Lord. She poured out her life in service to God.”
Pugh, a graduate of Carver High School and Columbus College, worked 20 years at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia and 15 years at SunTrust Bank, where she was a vice president.
She was appointed by former Gov. Zell Miller to the Georgia Policy Council on Children and Families in 1995, the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government Advisory Committee in 1995, and the Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse (MHMRSA) Funding Study Committee in 1998.
Pugh also was appointed chairwoman of the National League of Cities’ Public Safety & Crime Prevention Steering Committee in 1996, when she worked with former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and the U.S. Department of Justice to increase the flexibility in the use of grants from Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS.
She was elected as Georgia Chair of Women in Municipal Government in 1995 and President of the Georgia Municipal Association in 1999. She was appointed to the Georgia Public Defenders Council by former Lt. Governor Mark Taylor. She also served on the Board of Directors and Advisory Council of the National League of Cities.
Locally, Pugh served on the Board of Directors for Girls Inc., St. Francis Hospital, Columbus Technical College, Columbus Housing Initiative, Liberty Theatre and Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation. She also was a member of the Columbus Chapter of The Links Inc.
In 2012, the Columbus Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity presented her with the Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Award. Georgia Trend magazine named her one of the state’s best public servants in 2007.
