Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994 TAG: 9404010229
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
``With my eyelashes all in curl,
``I float as the clouds on air do,
``I enjoy being a girl''
When Pat Suzuki sang those words in 1958 in the Broadway musical ``Flower Drum Song'' and Nancy Kwan repeated them in the 1961 movie, it was acceptable to refer to a grown-up woman that way.
As 24-year-old Nancy Gibson of Radford told the organizers of the Miss Virginia All-American Girl Pageant in Richmond earlier this month, that is no longer the case.
``I'm not a girl. I'm a woman,'' she said, and the name of the contest should reflect that.
She lost the argument, but won the competition. In August, she will go to New York City to represent Virginia in the national pageant and compete for more than $50,000 in cash prizes.
``I have always wanted to go to New York. That was one of the main reasons I entered the pageant,'' she said.
Gibson has been entering such contests since she was a student at Pulaski County High School.
``I just kind of did it for fun, nothing serious,'' she said. In 1991, she won the Miss Montgomery County contest. She was also Miss Pulaski Speedway. ``I'm a real avid race fan,'' she said.
Her parents, Sonny and Nancy Gibson of Pulaski, wanted her to try for Miss Virginia last year. She entered five preliminary events and was runner-up in three of them, but not the winner.
``I had a blast, though,'' she said.
She's been approached by several agencies in recent months, but has decided against signing until she sees whether the New York contest brings other offers. ``I'm going to hold off and see what other options I might have.''
The national All-American Girl Pageant's categories involve modeling, talent and being photogenic, Gibson said. It has no scholarship component.
``This is strictly a beauty pageant,'' Gibson said, adding that at least it did away with the swimsuit category.
Since graduating from high school, Gibson has completed an American Institute for Paralegals course at Roanoke College but now has switched career plans and is completing her studies at Chamar Academy of Cosmetology in Christiansburg.
The New York pageant will probably be her last, she said, because she and David Hale, who works at Beaver Creek Nursery in Floyd, are planning to get married in 1995 and that would rule her out of many competitions. ``Even Miss Winston Cup, you can't be married,'' she said.
by CNB