Margaret Moore’s service to women bowlers in Mississippi was rewarded recently when the Mississippi Women’s Bowling Association dedicated its new museum to her and Joyce Whiten of Gulfport.

Moore, a Vicksburg resident, said the MWBA needed a place to showcase its nearly 45 years of memorabilia since the organization will cease to exist by the summer because of an approved merger with the United States Bowling Congress.

&#8220The MBWA was part of a national women’s bowling association and since that organization is merging with the men into one, the MBWA will no longer exist,” Moore said. &#8220We felt it important to showcase all of our memorabilia that we’ve collected over the years.”

The museum will be housed at Rivergate Bowl in Natchez and was opened to the public on April 7 with a dedication and ribbon-cutting.

&#8220All the things we have collected are at one place. The general public can view all our memorabilia at no cost. It’s ideal, because before, it was all over the place,” Moore said.

For 26 years, Moore served as president of the MWBA. She was one of the charter members of the organization that began in 1960 at the King Edward Hotel in Jackson.

&#8220I had actually began bowling here in Vicksburg when the lanes first opened in 1959,” Moore said. She was an active bowler until 1995.

&#8220I injured my finger and had to give it up, but I stayed active in the association because I was a life member. They let me do the paperwork,” Moore said.

When the proposed merger was announced with the USBC, the group felt it was time to look for someplace to serve as a museum.

Moore and Whiten, who served as the association’s Sgt. of Arms for more than 20 years, were on the planning committee and approached Jess and Anne Hash, the owners of the Rivergate Bowl, about using their property for the museum.

&#8220They had this large back room that we thought was just ideal,” Moore said.

The MWBA Museum now displays flags, hall-of-fame records, coat of arms depicting important features of the game and other material collected over the past 46 years.

&#8220Now all our scrapbooks and trophies are in one place,” Moore said.