She's Bringing "Betty" Back

The new Miss Oklahoma is  22 year old, BETTY Thompson.

Some of you might not know about my involvement in pageants. No, not as a contestant, but as a volunteer that helps with contestants in the Miss America program. I started out as a local pageant volunteer and eventually produced and directed the Miss Texas Pageant for five years before I moved to Los Angeles.  I still keep up with the program across the country as I have accumulated many friends still involved. In fact, I will be traveling to Virginia next week (and to Kentucky in July) to judge their state pageants.

So, as I was perusing the Pageant message boards this weekend I was delighted to see a contestant named Betty competing in Oklahoma. There are Lindseys, Ambers, Jennifers, Christies, Heathers, Sarahs and Shannons galore. But only one Betty.  Betty, like Wanda, Gladys, Myrna and Agnes, is just not a name you hear for anyone under the age of 80.

The roads to success for Oklahoma's Betty and my Betty were not easy. My Betty was born to poor, poor parents and grew up on a farm during the Great Depression. Not a lot of food or clothing. She worked hard her whole life just to survive.  Oklahoma's Betty's success in pageants were a struggle as well. First of all, her name is Betty. Second she happens to be "vertically challenged". In pageantland, she is a midget. In reality she is probably 4' 9 if she's an inch and is more than likely 89 lbs soaking wet. She is so short that when she was standing there with the eventual first runner-up awaiting for the announcement, she looked like she could possibly be the first runner-up's ventriloquist dummy.  (if the first runner-up was a ventriloquist, which she wasn't, which really disappoints me.) So the odds were against Oklahoma Betty.  And to top it all off she's an Irish Step Dancer whose platform (her community service project) is "Milk: It Really Does A Body Good".

So my point is the odds were against Oklahoma Betty, but she beat out over 40 other amazing women to become the new Miss Oklahoma. Which proves my point that anyone named Betty must be extremely, extremely special.

To the new Miss Oklahoma, I say thank you. You are bringing 'Betty' back!! (Take it to the bridge!)

What would my Betty say?  "There were a lot of Bettys when I was growing up. The last "Betty" I heard of was when Dorothy Whitton named her girl Betty after Betty Byler who died of cancer."  "She was eat up with it!"