Sylvia Louise Hitchcock-Carson (January 31, 1946 – August 16, 2015) was an American model and beauty queen who held the title of Miss Alabama United States and Miss United States, and was crowned Miss Universe 1967.

Personal life

Hitchcock was born in

Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...

and grew up on a chicken farm in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. She attended Palmetto High School, Miami-Dade Junior College and studied art at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

. A junior at the University when she won the Miss USA title, Hitchcock chose not to complete her degree. 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 chap ...

sorority. Hitchcock married William Carson, the inventor of a fruit harvesting machine, in 1970. They had three children, Jonathan, Christianne and Will, and seven grandchildren.

Career

Hitchcock, who had previously competed in local pageants in Florida, represented Alabama at the Miss USA 1967 pageant. She was chosen as one of the fifteen best in swimsuit and won the Miss USA title on May 22. In July she became the first Miss USA to win the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall St ...

title since

Linda Bement Linda Jeanne Bement (November 2, 1941 – March 19, 2018) was an American model and beauty queen who became the third Miss USA to be crowned Miss Universe. She died of natural causes on March 19, 2018, at her home in Salt Lake City. Miss Univers ...

in 1960. Hitchcock also appeared in the

1968 Indianapolis 500 The 52nd International 500 Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday May 30, 1968. For the second year in a row, one of Andy Granatelli's STP Turbine-powered machines was leading late in the rac ...

on May 30, 1968. After relinquishing her title she tried modeling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

but became disillusioned with the city and returned to Miami where she worked for a television station. In 1972 she was one of a panel of twelve judges for the Miss Universe 1972 pageant won by Kerry Anne Wells.

Death

She resided in

Lake Wales, Florida Lake Wales is a city in Polk County, Florida. The population was 14,225 at the 2010 census. , the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 16,759. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lake Wales i ...

until her death from cancer on August 15, 2015. She was 69 years old."Sylvia Hitchcock, former Miss Universe from USA, is no more"
thegreatpageantcommunity.com, August 17, 2015; accessed August 18, 2015.

References

External links

* 1946 births 2015 deaths Deaths from cancer in Florida Miss Alabama USA winners Miss Universe 1967 contestants Miss Universe winners Miss USA 1960s delegates Miss USA winners People from Miami Female models from Florida 21st-century American women {{US-pageant-bio-stub