Maria Beale Fletcher (born June 23, 1942) is an American beauty pageant contestant who was

Miss America 1962 Miss America 1962, the 35th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 9, 1961, and was broadcast on CBS. According to Nielsen ratings, the pageant is the highest rated Miss America telecast on ...

Early life and education

Fletcher was born to dancing duo Charles "Beale" and Margaret Gatley Fletcher, who were the founders of the Fletcher School of Dance and the Land of the Sky Civic Ballet. She has one brother, Walter, and two sisters, Margaret and Bonnie. She is from

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

, and was a graduate of A.C. Reynolds High School. She worked as a

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

Rockette The Rockettes are an American precision dance company. Founded 1925 in St. Louis, they have, since , performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Until 2015, they also had a touring company. They are best known for starring in the Ra ...

prior to winning the Miss America crown. After winning Miss America, Fletcher used her earned scholarship towards a degree in French from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Pageantry

She was the Miss America preliminary competition swimsuit winner, and her overseas tour included visits to 31 Army hospitals and Servicemen's Clubs. For the talent competition, she

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...

d to a recording of herself singing “Somebody Loves Me.” She remains the only

Miss North Carolina The Miss North Carolina competition selects the representative for the state of North Carolina to compete in the annual Miss America competition. The competition has been held in Raleigh every year since 1978. Prior to that, it was held in vario ...

to be crowned

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 ...

Career

During the late 1960s, Fletcher served as co-host of ''The Noon Show'' on

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, television station WSM.

References

Living people Miss America winners People from Asheville, North Carolina 1942 births Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners The Rockettes American female dancers American dancers Miss North Carolina winners {{NorthCarolina-stub