When Grandma Was A Little Girl - #61

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61-Miss Tularosa – reality check!
The year was 1969. A lady whom we knew,Tina Quarrels, belonged to the Tularosa Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband owned a small grocery store. Tina asked me, in the presence of my parents, if I would be interested in running for Miss New Mexico Universe. They were going to host a Miss Tularosa contest. Our town of Tularosa had never had one before. You had to be graduated from high school and be 18. Well, I had graduated the year before and I was 18. We said that we’d think about it and get back to them. We decided this would be okay.

There were only two girls who competed for this Miss Tularosa title. Linda Hanway, who would graduate in less than a month and was also 18 and myself. We had to have some type of talent. Linda twirled her baton. I felt bad for her because she dropped it twice. I think it was just because she was nervous. She twirled it all the time in band and did great! I played a piano piece. As I recall, I think I even made a mistake because I knew I was nervous!

We also had a swimsuit and evening gown competition. There were not very many people present and I was glad. We had this competition at our old high school gym. My dad played the background music during the competition.

Who won? I did. I was excited! I felt bad for Linda because she really wanted to win! The town gave me a 3-piece luggage set. I remember the color was pink and loud! They also paid my entry fee for the Miss New Mexico Universe pageant, housing and extra spending money that was needed while at the pageant. I remember having to make a public appearance at the Armed Forces Day at Holloman Air Force Base. Grandpa and I were dating at the time and he was my escort on base. He was stationed at the base and was still in the service.

My chaperon for the Miss New Mexico Universe Pageant was Tina. The pageant was held in Las Cruces, New Mexico at the college campus. Each contestant was given a one piece bathing suit. You could chose between bright pink or lime green. I chose the pink. I used my senior prom dress, from the previous year, for my evening gown. My mom had to add a six-inch wide belt made from the same fabric. She had a big bow on the front of the belt. I had lost weight and the dress needed taking in and made a little fancier.

One pageant event that we went to was at a lady’s house where we all had a Mary Kay facial and make over. I remember the oatmeal mask! My face felt gritty and tight!

We had to have a parade through the town of Las Cruces and we all rode on convertibles. That was fun! I do remember though that not a whole lot of people turned out for that parade.

For the New Mexico Universe pageant we all had to do a 'group' talent. Back then the Miss Universe pageants didn’t’ require individual talents like they did for the Miss America pageant. The group dance was choreographed to the music 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow.' We also used umbrellas in part of the dance. It was fun!

I vividly remember the ‘interview’ session. We had judges from all over. One in particular was from Hollywood, some director. I don’t even remember his name. The thing I’ll never forget is that he never wore ‘socks!’ Here he was all dressed up in a tux with shiny black shoes and ‘no socks!’ I just thought that was peculiar. I asked my chaperon why he didn’t wear socks and she said that she was told, ‘He never wears them. He doesn’t like wearing socks.’ Hmmm.

I only remember two of the questions out of the 5 or 6 they asked me. One judge who asked his question quite animatedly was, ‘I notice that you state on your application that you love football. Well what do you think of the quarterback Joe Namath of the New York Jets?’

My dumb answer, ‘Oh, I don’t know who he is. I just root the guys in the ‘white’ uniforms and they usually win. My favorite team is the Dallas Cowboys.’

His response was, “Oh.” He said it very flat and disappointedly. (My answer fell flat as a pancake!)

The next judge said, “Well Miss Tularosa, you are very beautiful and probably one of the best looking contestants here and have a pleasant personality, what do you attribute that to?”

(Here’s the reality check!) I got a huge lump in my throat and tears sprang to my eyes and I said, “Thank you. Everything I am I owe to my parents and how they raised me and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for all my blessings.” (The judge looked at me like I was from outer space and said, ‘Oh, thank you.’ – Another answer that fell flat as a pancake!)

Well, I learned pretty darn fast that you have to have rehearsed pat answers that you give that the judges want to hear, not that they are true, but they sound great.

At the reception after the interview session, one of the judges came up to me (the sock-less one from Hollywood) and in real sincerity said to me, “You know honey, you don’t really belong here. You have everything; you have it all. You don’t need this. You’re real.”

At the time I was dumbfounded and thought that he didn’t like me but that night I realized he was right, ‘I was out of place.’ Many of these girls were on their third time around trying to win. They were fake.

The night before the performance we all had to take a ‘practice walk’ out and pretend we were just crowned Miss New Mexico Universe. I remember walking out and waving to the ‘empty seats’ and smiling radiantly and walking back. The pageant host, Mrs. Kowall announced, ‘Now that’s how it’s done, walk like Miss Tularosa just did!’ It was ‘the only thing’ I probably did right!

Well, the big night came and we all performed and then they called out the top 10 and then the top 5 and then the new Miss New Mexico Universe. Her name was Miss Palms- Theresa Phillips, the daughter of the Dean of New Mexico University of Las Cruces.

I wasn’t called in the top ten. How did I feel? As each name was called I was hoping to hear my name, but it never was. I was disappointed. I wanted to leave and never been seen there again. I remember my mom telling me how upset my dad was. He was about out of his seat saying, “What’s wrong with them, my daughter should be up there, she’s the best one!” Mom made him be still, it was embarrassing! I remember I got to see my parents for a few minutes and I was so excited to see them and then we were whisked away to a private reception. The parents were not invited to it. It was just for the contestants and their chaperones and the judges.

Talk about how catty girls are when they lose. Oh My! There were a few girls there that were totally ticked off! They didn’t say one nice thing about the girl that won, Theresa Phillips. Their comments were rude and had swear words in them! I have to say I was surprised that she won. She didn’t speak well, wasn’t articulate and the pageant lady was upset that she was slightly heavy. (When Miss Phillips won, the pageant lady Mrs. Kowall told her, “You better lose 15 or 20 pounds before the pageant!) Theresa Phillips was nice, but after seeing Mary Gard that just stepped down from her reign as the previous Miss New Mexico, oh my, she was elegant! Miss Phillips was a surprise I have to say.

Well, when we got back home, my chaperon was ticked! I was glad the whole thing was over. It was an experience but I never wanted to do it again. She called me up three weeks later and told me the ‘dirt’ of the pageant. Apparently the pageant was over $25,000 in debt (that was a lot of money back then) from the previous year and they had to ‘pay up!’ They were told if they let the college dean’s daughter win, they would drop the debt. So in a word or two, our pageant was rigged for this particular year. Unfortunately for our newly crowned Miss New Mexico Universe she bombed at the Miss Universe pageant. She didn’t place and the paper said she was somewhat a disappointment to represent our state, that she didn’t speak well, was over weight, and had no talent. The newspapers can be cruel. There is a happy ending…the following year they did crown a great young lady and she represented our state very well.

Moral of the story. Be yourself and pageants all have their soap operas. It was an eye opening experience for this one small town young lady!