A prom to remember: Alabama high school senior tries on grandmother's dress from 1962
A high school student from the town of Alexandria, Alabama, went shopping for a baby blue prom dress inspired by Cinderella. It was when Alexandria High School valedictorian Emilea Mitchell and her mother Millie were in Pensacola, Florida, visiting Emilea’s grandma May Hammock, that they found the perfect dress and something more.
In the spring of 1962, Hammock wore a similar blue prom dress. Sleeveless and sleek with a classy chiffon and a balloon skirt, the teenager really did look like Cinderella. After the prom at the National Guard Armory in Perry, Georgia, Hammock bagged up her beautiful dress and tucked it away in a closet. She wondered if someone else might someday wear her dress.
It was late in the afternoon when Emilea Mitchell said “yes” to the dress at a store. Emilea and her mom and her grandma found the dress at a Pensacola boutique. Cinderella blue, flowing, beautiful. There wasn’t a dress better. Or was there?
It was days before Emilea and her date Matthew went to the prom. Emilea was back in Alabama with her family. Her grandmother's dress was back home in Alabama as well. Of course, Emilea had purchased a baby blue dress in Pensacola, but one conversation led to another.
“Why don’t you go try on grandma’s dress?” Millie said to Emilea.
The 1962 prom dress fit Emilea perfectly — she looked like a young May Hammock.
Her grandmother cried. Emilea and Millie did, too.
Emilea and Matthew had a great time at their senior prom as both dresses took center stage. Emilea posed for pictures in her grandma’s prom dress as May held up an old black and white picture taken 61 years ago. Emilea then went to the prom in the dress she had purchased in Pensacola.
Emilea Mitchell will graduate from high school on May 24. She will attend the University of Alabama on a full scholarship. Emilea will study biology and pre-med — she wants to become an orthopedic surgeon.