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Age no bar to beauty and talent
Carolyn Bledsoe, of Hamilton, entered the Ms. Senior Virginia pageant "because I can," she said.
As usual, there was a twinkle in her eye.
That twinkle will be put to the test May 30 at the James E. Lee Senior Center in Falls Church when she competes against six other finalists for the Virginia tiara and a chance to win the national title at the Ms. Senior America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., in October.
All contestants are older than 60 – Bledsoe is 61 – and wrinkles are a plus, organizer Wendy Pinhey said.
And no, there's no swimsuit contest. "Not for 60-year-old women," Bledsoe said.
She is fine-tuning that trademark twinkle for the Cowgirl Clown skit that she hopes, she said, will win her the title.
For the skit, she saunters on stage dressed as a Cowgirl Clown, and she's "looking for a man."
When she performs the skit at senior centers and nursing homes, she finds her man in the audience. For the pageant, she's bringing a life-size cutout of John Wayne.
"I am really excited and think I can attract him [in the skit]," Bledsoe said. "I want to be his cowboy sweetheart – but he doesn't pay any attention to me."
She sings a vamp version of "Hey, Good Looking," but no luck with the stoic – one could say cardboard -- cowboy, so she bursts into "Happy Trails."
In between taking swing dance lessons, volunteering at local nursing homes, taking voice lessons and learning to play the ukulele, Bledsoe is the mid-week morning barista (trained "mixologist" adept with both spirits and coffee) at the Beautiful South restaurant in Hamilton.
It's not the money, she said. "I like to meet people."
Before settling in Hamilton, she spent seven years with the United States Agency for International Development in Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Northern Africa. She found herself in the midst of the 1998 drought and famine.
She and the staff did their work well and fast, she said.
In the 1983 drought and famine, a million people had died. "We were able to get the [United Nations] in there quickly enough that 'only 80,000' died."
Memory of such a "success" clouds the twinkle for a moment. She turns to pictures on the mantel of her three daughters, all Park View High School graduates, and her grandchildren.
At the pageant, she will get acquainted with the judges, perform as the Cowgirl Clown and show off an evening gown.
But the heart of each contestant is her "inner beauty," her philosophy of life, said Pinky O'Neil, Ms. Senior Virginia state director and former Ms. Senior Virginia, of Reston.
Bledsoe's philosophy is from poet Robert Browning: "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."
To grow old with grace, health and happiness, she said, she must have six things – spiritual needs, healthy eating, regular exercise, learning new things, laughing (and laughing some more) and "last, but not least, give of ourselves to others."
The pillow on her couch sums it up. "Laugh often. Love much."
Learn more about the state pageant at www.msvirginiasenior.com, or call Pinky O'Neil, 703-481-1715.
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