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Honoring Sandy Allen was a tall order!
- Rita Rose
- May 3
- 3 min read
Updated: May 4
Sandy Allen is finally getting her due in Shelbyville, Indiana.
At age 21 and standing over 7 feet tall, Sandy was working as a secretary in Indianapolis when her co-workers decided to get her measured for possible inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records. She was certified at 7-feet-5-inches, and in 1976 she was named the World’s Tallest Woman!
Sandy became an overnight celebrity in Shelbyville, a town of around 20,000 people just southeast of Indianapolis. Until her death in 2008, Sandy held the Tallest Woman title off and on for at least 18 years. She was surpassed twice by two Chinese women who died, giving the title back to Sandy.
Her amazing height was due to a tumor on her pituitary gland, which caused excessive growth hormone. She had the tumor removed in 1977. A couple of years after getting her record, she was re-measured at 7-feet-seven-and-a-quarter-inches, breaking her own record.
And now, Shelbyville is stepping up to honor their famous citizen! A lifesize mural has been painted on the side of a bank building, created by Indianapolis artist Pamela Bliss. Sandy is shown leaning on a phone booth and wearing a shirt that says “The weather up here is fine.”
The mural was commissioned by the Blue River Community Foundation from a Lilly Endowment grant.
"Through the grant opportunity, BRCF created a public art program, Pride in Place, to help us celebrate and share the history of Shelby County,” says Executive Director Jennifer Jones. “When we asked our community who the notable individuals are that they felt should be recognized through this program, Sandy Allen was one of the top responses. Known for her record-breaking height, she also shared a powerful message, ‘It's OK to be different,’ which is as important today as when she shared the message with Loper Elementary students in 2005.”
Last year, Bliss painted a popular mural of Shelbyville basketball legend Bill Garrett.
“We were very familiar with the skilled portrait work of Pamela Bliss, who has completed murals across the state and in downtown Indianapolis. She had recently finished a portrait of Bill Garrett as a part of Pride in Place. We were extremely happy with it and she was the first artist approached (to paint Sandy),” says Jones. “She gladly took the job.”
Bliss says she learned a lot about Sandy while painting the mural. “I enjoy painting memorials like this one. People stop by and tell their memories of them. Several people stopped and reminisced about Sandy and I got a sense of how nice she was to everyone.”
People knew Sandy Allen as a gentle giant who was kind to everyone. Despite the challenges of her size, she felt that she had a purpose in showing people they can overcome anything with the right attitude. She once said, "Getting in the Guinness Book of Records really changed my life. It has given me the opportunity to travel all over the world, see places I would only have dreamed of, and it sort of brought me out of my shell."
She also had a great sense of humor, often wearing T-shirts with funny slogans such as “The weather up here is fine,” “I’m with shorty” and “I like short people: I had three for lunch.”
The mural is located at First Federal Savings and Loan, 25 Public Square, Shelbyville, IN 46176. An informational sign will be placed on the wall next to Sandy in the near future.
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