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It’s not about the glory. Although Jeanne Swanner Robertson certainly has earned plenty of that. A 6’2” beauty queen from Alamance County who wound up as Miss Congeniality in the Miss America pageant is quite a feat. |
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It’s not about the stuff. Although she has accumulated so much memorabilia that it has occupied nearly every room of her house since she began to organize it a few months ago. From her evening gowns hand stitched by Mary Harden and Nina Holladay to her ukulele played for the talent competition, Jeanne has a story or two to tell. It’s not about the pageant. Although the Miss North Carolina pageant has its share of controversy in recent months, Jeanne made more than 500 public appearances in 1963-64 as Miss North Carolina. That in turn launched her into becoming a nationally known humorist who has been awarded every honor in professional speaking. It’s about a nearly 60-year-old women who loves her hometown so much that she turns the attention showered on her as a beloved Miss North Carolina back on Graham with a wonderful interactive permanent exhibit at the Graham Historical Museum. It’s about Jeanne Swanner Robertson receiving the prestigious Woman of Achievement Award by this year’s Miss North Carolina Pageant. And it’s about pageant participants in this year’s state competition buying children’s books for the Graham Public Library to honor Jeanne. The exhibit, which is located in the former Fireside Gallery on W. Elm Street in Graham, will officially open July 13. That is40 years to the day Miss Graham was crowned Miss North Carolina. Entitled “Behind Her All The Way: Graham’s Miss North Carolina”, there will be large display boards depicting the local beauty queen and all the wonderful stories associated with her claim to fame. One of the stories involves a good luck charm that exploded in the national press into a marriage proposal. It seems that Jeanne was teaching swim lessons at the Graham Pool the summer after she was crowned Miss Graham. One of the young men at the pool gave her a ring and told her that he would marry her some day. (He was 11 at the time.) That ring was Jeanne’s good luck charm and of course, the young man, David Harrington (now a neighbor), shared the limelight as reporters called for his comments. In addition to the historical angle, the Graham Public Library will also be a beneficiary of Jeanne’s awards. Each year, contestants in the Miss North Carolina Pageant perform a community service project in honor of Miss North Carolina. Pageant officials this year have allowed Jeanne to choose the community project for two reasons: for 40 years, she has shone a positive light on the Miss North Carolina pageant and in honor of the town of Graham’s pageant exhibit. A literacy advocate, Jeanne in turn asked that the pageant contestants to give children’s books to the Graham Public Library. It’s a win-win-win situation
for the Miss North Carolina Pageant, the town of Graham and the Graham
Public Library. Not to mention a major housecleaning at the Robertson
household. |
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| Re-print with permission: City-County Magazine - Article by Karen Carrouth | |
