The Mary Vaughan Corner Chapter, NSDAR, proudly honored Mary McCoy with the prestigious Women in American History Award at the January 6, 2026, chapter meeting. This award recognizes women who have made significant contributions to their communities, professions, or fields of study, and who have helped shape American history through their dedication and service. Mary McCoy was honored by the Texas DAR State Conference in 2024 with the TXDAR Media Award but until now was not recognized with the Women In American History Medal.
Entertaining radio audiences for over 70 years, she was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame (2010), Radio Hall of Fame (2024) and Country Radio Hall of Fame (2025) and recognized by the Country Music Association of Texas for work as a DJ.
Her career started when station KMCO was impressed with her singing during an audition and employed her to record a 15-minute singing segment at age 12 then promoted her to Radio Presenter/DJ four months later.
In 1955, Mary McCoy appeared on the Louisiana Hayride sharing the stage with Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, The Browns and others. Her dreams were to sing, have her own DJ show and make records. In 1960, she did make her first record “Deep Elem Blues” and followed with others on the Jin label. She signed a contract in 1967 with Gabe Tucker and recorded many singles and duets with Jimmy Copeland. Her dreams were finally fulfilled with the recording of her gospel CD, “Through the Storm”.
Mary continues to DJ weekday mornings on Houston KSTAR radio on the Larry and Mary Show and soon will approach her 75th anniversary as a DJ.