Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 12, 1993 TAG: 9307120018
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The 22-year-old Williamsburg native will be welcomed into the homes of the pageant's board members and supporters during her yearlong reign, which that began Saturday night when she was crowned at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium.
Glisson competed in the 40th annual pageant as Miss Lynchburg Scholarship Festival. This was her second time in the pageant; her first in 1989 was as a "very frightened 18-year-old." A '93 Virginia Tech graduate and dean's list scholar, Glisson will use her $6,000 scholarship prize to pursue a master's in business administration.
But first, she'll make her rounds as Miss Virginia, postponing graduate school and a job as a special events planner for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for a year. Instead, she'll hit the road, entertaining and advocating day-care programs for Virginia's elderly.
Glisson began her first full day as Miss Virginia talking eagerly about her plans for the year.
In an interview pressed between autograph signings and pictures - and plenty of deep breaths - Glisson explained why she'll use her reign to focus attention on the plight of the state's elderly.
"I feel very strongly about adult day-care programs," she said.
Adult day care allows elderly people who do not need the constant supervision of nursing homes to remain in their own homes.
In her visits to most of the nursing homes and hospitals in central Virginia affiliated with adult day care, Glisson has seen about 10,000 Virginians in need of the service.
By 2000, she said, there will be 30 million Americans older than 65. "Less than 5 percent [of those] will need nursing homes." Adult day care is the alternative Glisson says they will need.
As Miss Virginia, Glisson will seek funding from corporations, grants and endowments to make the programs a reality.
Her interest in adult day care was piqued when, while a communications major at Tech, she was assigned to do a story on the director of the university's adult daycare center.
Glisson was so impressed with the facility, she became a volunteer there, working one-on-one with Alzheimer's disease patients.
Since then, she's visited many central Virginia nursing homes and worked with the Agency on Aging in Richmond. At the Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, Glisson implemented a fitness and rehabilitation program for elderly patients, and she is a "granddaughter" in the Adopt-a-Grandparent program.
Growing up, "I never really had that role model," she explained. Two of Glisson's grandparents died before she was born, and the other two shortly afterward.
In a week of competition before Saturday night's crowning, Glisson competed in talent, interview, swimsuit and evening gown categories.
The interview, which counted toward 30 percent of a contestant's final score, was the portion for which Glisson prepared the most.
Topics such as the president's position on Somalia, her own stance on abortion, and the Virginia General Assembly's recent legislation on drunken driving were but a few of the many questions judges could have asked of Miss Virginia contestants.
"What is your favorite color?" is not one of them, she says.
Glisson won the premliminary talent award Friday night with her crowd-pleasing rendition of Dolly Parton's "I'll Always Love You."
When she placed in the top 10 Saturday night and went on stage to repeat her talent performance, the audience roared with appreciation before she sang the first note.
Though she remembers little of Saturday night's win, she does recall finally getting to accept her family's congratulations - after the tears, hugs, interviews and pictures.
She remembers watching her big brother, Wallace Jr., cry. She remembers hugging her parents, Wallace and Anna Glisson of Williamsburg.
"Dad was beaming," she recalled. "And his exact words were, `A blind hog gets an acorn once in a while!' "
Aside from her duties as Miss Virginia, Glisson will begin the "mental competition" of preparing for the Miss America Pageant in September.
That's not to say she won't have fun, though. Besides her scholarship, Miss Virginia wins the use of a shiny blue convertible. The car couldn't have come at a better time, she laughs. Her 10-year-old car died a month ago with 175,000 miles on it.
For the next year anyway, this convertible will take Glisson to all her public appearances, and home to Williamsburg occasionally, she jokes, to do a few loads of laundry.
That may be the only thing she has time for when she is home.
"You are an ambassador, you really are an ambassador for the state," Glisson proudly insists. "I'm just absolutely excited, and I can't wait to get started."
by CNB