Vonda Kay Van Dyke

Vonda Kay Van Dyke (born May 19, 1943) was crowned the 1965 Miss America on September 13, 1964. Earlier in the year, she had taken a break as a 21-year-old junior at Arizona State College at Flagstaff (as of 1966, "Northern Arizona University") to become Miss Arizona. She is unique among pageant winners in that she was and still is the only Miss America who was also Miss Congeniality.

Vonda Kay Van Dyke
Born (1943-05-19) May 19, 1943
EducationArizona State Univ. graduated from UCLA
OccupationAuthor
TitleMiss Phoenix 1964
Miss Arizona 1964
Miss America 1965
PredecessorDonna Axum
SuccessorDeborah Bryant
Spouse(s)David Tyler Scoates
Children1

Early life and education

Van Dyke was born in Muskegon, Michigan. Her father, Dr. A.B. Van Dyke, was an osteopath. The family moved to Phoenix, the seat of Maricopa County, Arizona, where she attended the Phoenix Christian Junior/Senior High School.

Pageantry

In her senior year she entered a local America's Junior Miss pageant, where she surprised the judges and her fellow competitors by performing ventriloquism as her talent, which she later honed at the Phoenix amusement park, Legend City. She was named Arizona's Junior Miss for 1961, and traveled with "Kurley-Q" to Mobile, Alabama, for the national finals, where she placed in the top ten.

Her next major pageant was the 1962 Miss Phoenix competition. She later won the Miss Tempe crown in 1964, then Miss Maricopa County, then Miss Arizona, and finally Miss America, where she was the first contestant to use ventriloquism in the talent competition.[1] She subsequently urged Marcy Tigner to study ventriloquism, which Tigner would use for her Little Marcy evangelistic work.[2]

Career

Van Dyke continued in the spotlight for some years after having relinquished her crown. In 1966 she wrote a Christian-themed teen advice book called That Girl in Your Mirror, in which she advised young women to become more beautiful by adopting "that inner sparkle that only Christ can give." She later wrote Dear Vonda Kay, which came out in 1967, and consisted of letters to Van Dyke and her replies. Van Dyke subsequently also recorded Here's Vonda Kay and some other albums of inspirational songs.

During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Vonda worked with Archway Cookies, Inc. as spokeswoman. In 1974 she appeared in several Archway - Fort Wayne television commercials.[3]

Personal life

Van Dyke currently lives in Laguna Beach, California. She is the widow of David Tyler Scoates (October 26, 1934May 6, 2000),[4] a minister formerly of Florida. She has one daughter, Vandy, from that marriage.[5]

References

  1. "1965 Miss America Title Won By 21‐Year‐Old Arizona Coed; Victor Was Chosen Earlier as Miss Congeniality by 49 Fellow Contestants". The New York Times. September 13, 1964.
  2. Ankeny, Jason. "Little Marcy Tigner: Biography". Allmusic. RhythmOne, LLC. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  3. "Archway Commercial". Archway News: 12. Summer 1974.
  4. "Social Security Death Index". ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  5. Tauber, Michelle; Neill, Mike; Russell, Lisa; Fowler, Joanne; Dam, Julie; Tresniowski, Alex; Miller, Samantha; Dougherty, Steve; Yu, Ting (October 16, 2000). "American Beauties: 80 Years". People.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Donna Axum
Miss America
1965
Succeeded by
Deborah Bryant
Preceded by
Susan Bergstrom
Miss Arizona
1964
Succeeded by
Sandra Montgomery
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