With friends and fans in attendance, the late Kathryn Tucker Windham was inducted Friday into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame at Judson College.

Windham, a native of Selma, was known as a superb story-teller and started the Alabama Tale Tellin’ Festival in 1978.

She wrote 24 books and was a playwright, photographer and popular television and radio personality.

During the ceremony Friday, her son Ben and daughter Dilcy, unveiled a plaque that includes a portrait of Windham and a short biography. When the plaque was displayed, the room stood to their feet to honor Windham, who became a local celebrity during her lifetime.

Windham spent part of her journalism career at The Thomasville Times, The Birmingham News and even wrote for our own Selma Times-Journal. Through the Tale Tellin’ Festival and all of the books she wrote, Windham’s legacy will continue on forever, but Friday’s induction ceremony recognized her rightful place in history.

She won numerous Associated Press awards for writing and photography and was recognized by the National Storytelling Association in 1995, when she received the Circle of Excellence Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award.

It was fitting that Congresswoman Terri Sewell, who is also a native of Selma and began her career as a storyteller at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library, served as the keynote speaker at the induction ceremony.

“If we don’t tell our stories, others will tell our stories, and they may not get it right,” Sewell said. “We have to tell our stories. That’s what Kathryn Tucker Windham taught us.”

And nobody could spin a tale like Windham.