Saturday, June 28, 2008
What the pageant's really about
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Betty G. Price
Price, of Roanoke, was a member of the Valley Junior Women's Club and worked with the Miss Virginia Pageant in the early years.
The caustic tone of Amy Roberson's letter ("Pageant contenders are hardly role models," June 25) makes me wonder if she knows anything at all about the Miss Virginia Pageant itself or state satellites that comprise the Miss America Pageant.
I, for one, am grateful to the thousands of intelligent, beautiful and charming "well-bred fillies" who have graced the runway year after year as they "strut their bodies and gleaming smiles, thanks to orthodontia and pricey stylists."
These "horses" who have "primped" and spent all their time "gearing up" to vie for a "cheesy tiara" have generated millions of dollars that have improved the lives of countless handicapped children and adults, making their lives richer, happier, safer, more rewarding and secure through therapies, proper equipment and vocational training.
Millions more dollars have opened the doors to the universe of knowledge and understanding through the largest, off-campus scholarship program in the country.
The Miss America Pageant has served as a fountainhead of inspiration to young women through the sheer strength of its own participants. Though education remains the prime focus, I believe contestants have shown all America that if you want to be successful, it takes work, work and more work. They have inspired many of us to take better care of our appearance and health through proper diet and regimented exercise and to practice and to hone our skills, and frequently have been the catalyst that sent us back to school to further our own educations.
In 1953, the Valley Junior Women's Club literally begged the Miss America powers-that-be for the franchise of the Miss Virginia Pageant, which at that time was held in the Tidewater area. Atlantic City was not too happy with the caliber of the pageant and was looking for new sponsors. We were a brand new club and badly needed a project. We finally got the franchise, but only because no one else in the state wanted it.
We became the first women's organization to be a state sponsor and were the first state to televise the pageant statewide. We were second in the country in size of scholarship funds, and our director was the president of a nearby college. Contestants who won scholarships but who had already completed undergraduate work used their new funds to return to school to further their careers, obtain advanced or graduate degrees and, in one case that I recall, went on to become a full-time college professor.
Contrary to a comment of Roberson's, most contestants were not privileged and many, even younger than 20, mesmerized us with their knowledge, abilities and dedication to making the world a better place.
Certainly, the most gratifying result of the production of the pageant in those early years is that it deserves the credit for making possible the building of Camp Easter Seal in Craig County. It is through the efforts of those who worked on the pageant then that this camp is continually sponsored to this day by the women in the Virginia Federation, an affiliate of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.
On the final night of this year's Miss Virginia Pageant competition, I will again be in front of the television screen enjoying the moment and reliving and remembering much from all the pageants that Roanoke has hosted during the past 55 years.
Bring it on, gals, for a lot of us will be enjoying your talents, admiring your gorgeous gowns, envying your size 2s and wishing we could switch places.
