Lynda Lee Shea (née Mead; born April 17, 1939) is an American businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder who was

Miss Mississippi Miss Mississippi is a scholarship pageant and a preliminary of Miss America. The contest began in 1934, has been held in Vicksburg since 1958, and provides more money than any other scholarship pageant in the Miss America Organization. Four Mis ...

1959 and Miss America 1960. Shea attended

Natchez High School Natchez High School is a public school in Natchez, Mississippi (USA). It is part of the Natchez-Adams School District and serves students in grades nine through twelve. About In 2005, it had 1358 students and 73 teachers. 88% of the students wer ...

and the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

, where she was a member of

Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chapte ...

sorority. Her immediate predecessor as Miss America,

Mary Ann Mobley Mary Ann Mobley (February 17, 1937 – December 9, 2014) was an American actress, television personality, and Miss America 1959. Career Mobley was born in 1937 in Biloxi, Mississippi. After her reign as Miss America 1959, Mobley embarked on a c ...

(the first Miss America from Mississippi), was Mead's sorority sister at Chi Omega.

Family

Mead married Dr. John J. Shea Jr. in 1964; they have three adult children. Dr. Shea died in 2015.

Business life

Shea is president of Shea Design & French Country Imports in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

References

1939 births Living people American businesspeople People from Memphis, Tennessee People from Natchez, Mississippi Miss America 1960s delegates Miss America winners University of Mississippi alumni Miss Mississippi winners 20th-century American people {{US-pageant-bio-stub