Armi Kuusela

At the request of the Finnish government shortly after winning the Miss Universe Pageant, Kuusela attended the Olympics in Finland that year. While attending the Olympics, the Philippines trade delegation asked her to attend their first International Trade Exposition. On 22 February 1953, Kuusela embarked upon a world tour with her older sister as chaperone. She attended the Philippines Exposition and crowned Miss Philippines. While in the Philippines, she met businessman, developer, and hotelier Virgilio Hilario at a dance in Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines. When Kuusela and her sister continued on their tour to Japan, Hilario followed to pursue her. After a whirlwind courtship, Kuusela chose to relinquish her crown shortly before her reign ended as Miss Universe, and married Hilario on 4 May 1953 in Tokyo. They honeymooned in the Hawaiian Islands, toured the United States and then Europe,[5] before settling in Manila, the Philippines.[6]

Kuusela and Hilario owned and operated Gilarmi Corporation, a real estate development company in Makati, Philippines, which included their eponymous Gilarmi Hotel, the first residential hotel in the Philippines. Between 1955 and 1965, they had five children: Arne, Anna-Lisa, Jose (Jussi), Eva-Maria and Miguel (Mikko).[7] Hilario died of a heart attack on 7 September 1975. From 1975 through 1979, Kuusela was the Chief Executive Officer of their real estate development company and Honorary Counsel of Finland in Manila, the Philippines.

Kuusela remarried to American diplomat Albert N. Williams, a Senior Officer with the U.S. State Department, on 8 June 1978. Kuusela supported Williams in his subsequent appointment as American Consul General in Barcelona, Spain, where they resided from 1979 to 1983. They were assigned to Washington, D.C., where they resided for Turkish language training from 1983 to 1985, and then she supported him in his appointment as American Consul General in Izmir, Turkey, where they resided from 1985 to 1989. Upon retirement in 1989, they settled in La Jolla, a community in San Diego, California, United States, where they now reside.[3] In 1996, she became a United States Citizen. By then, she had traveled the world, lived in many countries, and spoken seven languages: Finnish, English, Swedish, German, Tagalog, Spanish, and Turkish.

Since retirement, Kuusela has worked on many charitable causes. Since 1992, she has been a Member of the Director's Circle of the San Diego Museum of Art and the Chancellor's Associates at the University of California, San Diego. From 1993 to 1998, she was a Member of the Director's Circle of the Mingei International Museum, and Co-Chaired the Director's Circle from 1993-1994. From 1993 to 2006, she served as a Board Member of the Burnham Cancer Research Institute (now known as the Sanford Burnham Preys Institute), and a Member of its Board Nominating Committee. Since then, she has served as a Member of the Advisory Board of the Fishman Foundation, an affiliate of Institute that funds research scholarship. Since 1994, she has been a Bravissimo Circle Paton of the San Diego Opera. Since 1995, she has been a Charter Member of the Patrons of the Prado, for the benefit of San Diego's iconic Balboa Park museums. In 2010, she became a Member of the International Bipolar Foundation. That year, she also became a Member of the Angel's Angels of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, and from 2013 to 2018, she served as Honorary Co-Chair of its annual gala to raise scholarships for the children. In 2014, she was accepted as a Member of the Order of St. John, a British Chivalric Order, and was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Order in 2018.

Kuusela has received numerous honors for her charity. In 2000, she received the Deming Award from the Burnham Cancer Research Institute amd the Paul Harris Award for Philanthropy from the International Rotary Foundation. In 2008, she received the Fishman Foundation Award. In 2011, the City of San Diego designated August 10, 2011, as Armi Kuusela Williams Day, by Proclamation of Mayor Jerry Sanders. In 2012, the President of Finland awarded the Order of the White Rose of Finland, with the rank of Knight (First Class) to Kuusela.[8]

She visited her native town of Muhos in August 2014. Her visit was an official meeting with the city municipal manager.[9] Kuusela is still active in her community, participating in charities and involved in cancer research at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.