Miss America

WOW! It's October and I missed The Miss America Schlarship Pageant..again! It used to be that I would watch the program every September. No tv show now. Gee, is it on any local cable?

This is from the mid 80s. I was in the Miss Michigan pageant and here we are with our chaperone. I am on the far left. This was one of the more unofficial poses...

I was first runner up that year. Missed going to Miss America by "that" much. I lost to someone who smashed glass with her feet. Whatever.

The next year I was performing in Atlantic City at Caesar's Casino - right next door to Convention Hall - on the Boardwalk. I walked over and saw one of the preliminary nights - there are three before the final night. I met the reigning Miss America that year - a former Miss Michigan - on the final night after the broadcast. Cool lady. We would have competed against each other but she chose to wait another year and not come up against me. She was kind enough to point that out to the folks around her. When I complimented her on her FABULOUS gown she said that she had to give it back the next day and that she would sleep in it! HA. Cool lady. Kae Lani Rae Rafko.

Great program. LOTS of scholarship money. In fact, it is one of the largest scholarship foundations for women in the world. I walked away with money to pay for lessons and classes and a piano. Mostly nice, hard working, smart cookies. It's a shame that the program got too tame for television.