NATCHEZ &8212; Kathryn Anne Green carries on a family tradition in serving as Pilgrimage Garden Club Queen of the Historic Natchez Pageant.

&8220;My grandmother and my aunt both were queens,&8221; said Green, a student at Mississippi State University who grew up in Starkville.

The daughter of Robert A. Green and Sara Stowers Green, the queen follows Mina Graning Stowers, her grandmother, and Anne Stowers, her aunt, both of Natchez, in the role of queen.

She is both nervous and excited, she said Thursday before she was to make her debut as queen on Saturday with PGC King Mark Edward Carter Jr. The pair will reign at the pageant through the second half of the season, which ends April 8 for the pageant and April 14 for tours.

Natchez always has been special to her, Green said. &8220;I&8217;ve always told my friends that I should have grown up in Natchez. I feel so at home there, and my family history is there.&8221;

Growing up, she enjoyed visiting Natchez during Spring Pilgrimage season and putting on hoops and frilly dresses to greet visitors to The Banker&8217;s House, her grandmother Stowers&8217; home.

&8220;My job was to stand at the door of the library,&8221; she said, reminiscing about her childhood visits during Pilgrimage. &8220;I&8217;d pick up a big bell to show the tourists how heavy it was.&8221;

As a student at Mississippi State, Green is majoring in music education, with the goal of teaching high school choir.

&8220;I fell in love with music when I was about 3 years old in Sunday school,&8221; she said.

The interest continued, and she sang in honors choirs in high school, a soprano who enjoys singing solos. Now she is in the university choir.

She is active at Trinity Presbyterian Church, where she is an elder and a children&8217;s church teacher; is in the handbell choir; on the youth committee; and on the Living Waters for the World committee.

Watching her queen&8217;s dress come together piece by piece was exciting, she said. &8220;Until it was finished and I tried it on for the fitting, it really hadn&8217;t hit me,&8221; she said. &8220;I was overwhelmed.&8221;

The dress is cream satin with an off-the-shoulder, scoop-necked bodice with short satin sleeves.

The overskirt has six panels of satin, outlined in piping and accented with ecru beaded trim.

The underskirt is gathered cream lace, and the train is three panels of cream satin, outlined in piping and accented with lace.

She will wear a crown and carry a scepter worn and carried by her grandmother in 1956 and her aunt in 1983.

The crown and scepter originally were used by Jeanne Marie Minor, Queen of Comus, at the New Orleans Mardi Gras of 1898.