About Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans

Lettie Pate Whitehead was born Letitia Pate in Bedford County, Virginia in 1872. She was educated at private schools in Bedford and Lynchburg.In 1895, she married Joseph Brown Whitehead, a young attorney and they made their home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead had two sons, Joseph B., Jr. and Conkey Pate.

In 1899, Mr. Whitehead and an associate approached The Coca-Cola Company with the idea of bottling Coca-Cola, a fountain beverage then growing in popularity in the South. The two entrepreneurs secured an exclusive contract to bottle and sell Coca-Cola throughout most of the United States. Mr. Whitehead and his family moved to Atlanta in 1903 to further develop the Coca-Cola bottling business. It prospered and Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead quickly became business, church and civic leaders in Atlanta.

Unfortunately, Mr. Whitehead's promising business career was to be a short one. He died of pneumonia in 1906 at the age of 42 while visiting at his wife's home in Virginia.

Mrs. Whitehead immediately assumed control of the family's business interests, serving as Chairman of the Board of the Whitehead Holding Company and President of the Whitehead Realty Company. In managing the affairs of these closely held corporations she sought the advice of trusted friends, foremost among them Robert W. Woodruff, who had ascended to the leadership of The Coca-Cola Company.

Mrs. Whitehead developed a keen insight into the soft drink business. She became one of the first women to serve as a director of a major American corporation when she was appointed in 1934 to the Board of Directors of The Coca-Cola Company, a position she held for almost 20 years.

Seven years after her husband's death Lettie Pate Whitehead married Col. Arthur Kelly Evans, a retired Canadian Army officer. They made their principal residence in Hot Springs, Virginia.

During her life Mrs. Evans contributed to over 130 charities, principally in Virginia and Georgia. In Virginia, she gave generously to the College of William and Mary, Washington and Lee University, Episcopal High School, the Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg and other institutions. She served as a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Her philanthropies in Georgia included Emory University, Agnes Scott College, Berry College, Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the Georgia Institute of Technology.