THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604200123
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Three swimsuit-clad teens occupied some front page space of the first edition of the Suffolk Sun.
The Forest Glen High School students - and 13 others representing other schools, plus one teenager who was a waitress - participated in the 26th, and final, Bathing Beauty Contest sponsored by Suffolk Credit Women-International.
One of the front pagers, Karen Carter, won the competition. She posed along with Bonnie West, first runner-up, and Cheryl Turner.
``I still have my crown,'' said Karen Carter Dunn, who lives in Franklin, Tenn. She also received a trophy, a bouquet of flowers, a $75 savings bond and the opportunity to participate in parades and wave at her adoring public.
``My sister, Dana Rountree, who lives in Holland, is five years older than I am, and she was in several contests,'' said Karen, now a mother of three. ``The three of us - Cheryl, Bonnie and I were best friends and agreed to do it together.''
Another entrant from Forest Glen was Kay Funkhouser.
Cheryl and Bonnie never left Suffolk. The only other participant known to be still living in the city is Shirley Vann. She works at a restaurant but could not be contacted.
Bonnie is an X-ray technician who worked at Obici Hospital, later with Howell, Ryder and Kells, orthopedic surgeons.
She and her husband, Bennie Speight, have two daughters - Pam, 14 and 10-year-old Nicole. They attend Nansemond-Suffolk Academy.
Cheryl lives with her husband, Dr. Ernest E. Goins and her two children, Matthew and Beth Schenk. Beth, a sixth-grader, attends mom's old alma mater, now Forest Glen Middle. Matthew is a Lakeland High School junior.
Their mother, who graduated from Obici School of Nursing in 1981, is Admissions/Marketing coordinator with Autumn Care Nursing Home in Norfolk. She also supervises clinical rotation for geriatric certified nurses assistants at P.D. Pruden Vo-Tech, and is a cardio-pulmonary resuscitation instructor for the Red Cross.
Cheryl remembers the dance after the competition. It was at the Shrine Club, music by The Melody Five.
Here are the other contestants: Landa Jones, Pam Byrum, Kathy Hall, Tammy Wilson and Toney Hogan represented Suffolk High; John F. Kennedy participants were Sharon Turner, Stacy Buck and Debbie Duke.
Susan Creekmore came from John Yeates. The nonschool participant, a waitress, was Debbie Clark.
The date for the bathing suit competition was May 7, 1976. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
The Sun's first front page featured beauty contestants.
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Cheryl Turner Goins, left, and Bonnie West Speight posed in their
bathing suits for the Sun two decades ago.
KEYWORDS: ANNIVERSARY EDITION 20TH ANNIVERSARY by CNB