*** SPECIAL THANKS to Miss Illinois Board Member Daryl Schabinger for most of these priceless photos. We are truly blessed to have you track the Miss Illinois History! CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS! |
A Look Back: Miss Illinois History SCRAPBOOK |
Miss Illinois 1927 Lois Delander This photo was taken shortly after she was awarded the title of MISS AMERICA! A press photo from that time read: "A girl who has been judged as the "most beautiful in America" declares that she has no stage ambitions. She is the 16-year old blonde, Lois Eleanor Delander of Joliet, Illionois and she has been crowned "Miss America." She said "It is all very wonderful but my only desire is to continue my studies; Art fascinates me and nothing else interests me very much". Lois passed away in 1985. |
Miss Illinois 1949 Trudy Germi (Miss Champaign-Urbana) holds her 2nd runner-up trophy at the 1949 Miss America Pageant. Trudy performed an opertic aria for her talent performance. |
Miss Illinois 1944 Betty June King of Bloomington, along with Miss South Carolina, visit wounded soliders in an Atlantic City, NJ hospital during a break from the 1944 finals. Today Betty and her husband Ed Mueller live in Texas. |
Miss Illinois 1958 Anita Ruth Olson of River Forest has her evening gown pressed by the wardrobe mistress shortly before her appearance on stage at the finals of the 1958 Miss America Pageant. Anita is married and is the mother of two grown boys. She and her husband reside near Atlanta, Georgia. |
*** SPECIAL THANKS to Miss Illinois Board Member Daryl Schabinger for most of these priceless photos. We are truly blessed to have you track the Miss Illinois History! CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS! |
Miss Illinois 1955 Marian Cox & Miss America 1956 Sharon Ritchie signed this photo, which was discovered on eBay in 2002! |
Illinois' second Miss America was Judy Ford. Judy recounts that prior to the pageant, Miss Illinois organizers told her she had three strikes against her: She was a blonde, she was a gymnast, and she was only 18. "You don't have a chance," they told her! |
Finalists for the 1959 Miss America Pageant included Miss Illinois Suzanne Johnson! |
MIDWESTERN SISTERS Miss Illinois 1964 Pat Quillen is joined by Misses Indiana, Iowa, and Kansas at the Miss America Pageant |
Did you know that even though the Miss America Pageant started in 1922, it wasn't until 1927 that Illinois sent a "Miss Illinois" to the national pageant. And that young woman, Lois Delander, ended up winning MISS AMERICA! |
