Jacquelyn Jeanne "Jackie" Mayer (born August 20, 1942) is a former

Miss Ohio The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program selects the representative for the U.S. state of Ohio to compete for the title of Miss America. The pageant is held annually, during the "Miss Ohio Festival" week, at the historic 1,600 seat Renaissance Theatre ...

1962 and

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

1963 and currently travels the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

, noted for her recovery from a near-fatal

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

suffered at age 28.

Early life and education

Mayer graduated

Sandusky High School Sandusky High School (SHS) is a secondary school in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Sandusky City School District, and one of two high schools in the city of Sandusky; the other high school is St Mary Central Cat ...

in 1960, spending much of her senior year in Austria as an exchange student, and then attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, where a friend encouraged her to enter the Miss America contest for the scholarship money offered to the winner.

Pageantry

She was first crowned Miss

Vacationland Vacationland may refer to: *An official slogan for the state of Maine * ''Vacationland'' (comedy show), a 2015 stand-up comedy show by John Hodgman * ''Vacationland'' (film), a 2006 film by Todd Verow * MV ''Vacationland'', a ferry that crossed the ...

(representing her native Sandusky and

Lake Erie Islands The Lake Erie Islands are a chain of archipelagic islands in Lake Erie. They include Kelleys Island, Erie Island, Pelee Island, the Bass Islands, and several others. The majority of these islands are under the sovereignty of the State of Ohio in t ...

region) in 1962 - becoming the first ever winner of the crown, then went on to win the

pageant later that year.Miss Vacationland pageant - Sandusky Register.com
/ref> On September 8, 1962 at Atlantic City's

Boardwalk Hall Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose arena in Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the Atlanti ...

, she was crowned

Miss America 1963 Miss America 1963, the 36th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 8, 1962 and was broadcast on CBS. Eight years later, winner Jacquelyn Mayer of Ohio suffered a near-fatal stroke at age ...

. Mayer is an executive director of the Miss Vacationland pageant.

Health issues and activism

In 1970, Mayer suffered a stroke in the early hours following a

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

evening with her family. She was rushed to the hospital and though surviving, spent the next seven years in rehabilitation needing to re-learn such simple tasks as the alphabet and basic motor functions. Thirty years later, having regained the ability to walk and speak, Mayer considers herself 90% recovered. Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky, formerly known as Providence Hospital, features the Jackie Mayer Rehab & Skilled Nursing Center. For over 20 years, Mayer has dedicated her life to assisting stroke survivors and their families. She has been a spokeswoman for the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

, made educational films to raise stroke awareness, helped found the National Stroke Association, and has appeared on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' and ''

The Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'', also known as ''Donahue'', is an American television talk show hosted by Phil Donahue that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast on WLWD in Dayton, Ohio, and i ...

'', and her story has been featured in magazines such as ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' and ''

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''.

Personal life

She married John Townsend and has two children, Bill Townsend, a technology entrepreneur, and Kelly Rostic, a former anchorwoman with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

Awards and honors

*Miss Vacationland 1962 *

1962 *

1963 *

Ohio Women's Hall of Fame The Ohio Women's Hall of Fame was a program the State of Ohio's Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Department of Job and Family Services ran from 1978 through 2011. The Hall has over 400 members. In 2019, the Hall's physical archives a ...

inductee (class of 1997) *Honorary Doctorate Degree from

Lourdes College Lourdes University is a private Franciscan university in Sylvania, Ohio. Established in 1958, the university is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania. History In 1916 Mother Adelaide Sandusky traveled from Minnesota to Northwest ...

*Section of State Route 2 running through Erie County named "Jackie Mayer Miss America Highway".

Ohio Revised Code The ''Ohio Revised Code'' contains all current statutes of the Ohio General Assembly of a permanent and general nature, consolidated into provisions, titles, chapters and sections. However, the only official publication of the enactments of the G ...

br>Section 5533.66
/ref>

References

External links

Jackie Mayer's official website''In Her Opinion'', an article by Jackie Mayer from MissAmerica.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Jacquelyn 1942 births Living people Miss America winners People from Sandusky, Ohio Miss America 1960s delegates 20th-century American people Female models from Ohio American motivational speakers Women motivational speakers American health activists Northwestern University alumni 21st-century American women