Ada Cecille Perkins Flores (7 September 1959 – 24 May 1980) was a Puerto Rican beauty queen who represented

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

in the

Miss Universe 1978 Miss Universe 1978, the 27th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 24 July 1978 at the Centro de Convenciones de Acapulco in Acapulco, Mexico. It was the first time in the pageant's history that the event was held in Mexico. Margaret Gardiner of So ...

pageant. In 1980, Puerto Rico was moved by the media news coverage of her death which resulted from the injuries sustained in an automobile accident in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

Early years

Perkins, the oldest of three siblings, was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

to Oswald Evan Perkins from San Juan and Ada Flores Sanchez. She received her primary and secondary education at ''St. John's School'' in the Condado area and later at the Academia del Perpetuo Socorro in Miramar. She graduated from high school in 1977 and enrolled at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazon where she was studying journalism."Make Your Life Prime Time: How to Have It All Without Losing Your Soul"; author: Maria Celeste Arraras; page 26; Publisher: Atria Books; ;

Model and beauty contestant

Perkins was a model who participated in television commercials for various companies, among them: "Chicklets Adams", "

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...

", " Salem

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

" and for the "INDULAC" (Dairy Producers Industry of Puerto Rico). In 1978, she represented Puerto Rico in the

Miss Teen International Miss Teen International is the name of independently operated annual beauty pageants currently being held in the United States, India, and Ecuador. In the United States, applicants must be aged 13 to 18 and never have been married or given birt ...

beauty pageant held in

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. Perkins came in 3rd place. In May of that same year, Perkins represented the city of San Juan in the

Miss Puerto Rico Miss Puerto Rico is a national beauty pageant in Puerto Rico. Currently, there are two separate televised pageants held annually: Miss Universe Puerto Rico to select the representative for Miss Universe and Miss Mundo de Puerto Rico to select t ...

contest and won the title. Miss Puerto Rico is the official national preliminary to the Miss Universe international pageant. Each year the event is held to select the representative from the island to the contest. There is a picture of her pictured with the Miss Puerto Rico

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and

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which she was entitled to wear during her reign. She then traveled to

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

where she represented Puerto Rico in the first Miss Universe pageant hosted by that country. Margaret Gardiner from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

won the title of Miss Universe that was held on July 21, 1978. In 1979, Perkins crowned her successor to the title, Audrey Teresa López (Miss Mayaguez) in an event which included the presence of actor

Erik Estrada Henry Enrique Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor and police officer. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series ...

Death

In 1980, she and her boyfriend, Luis A. Ballester were involved in an automobile accident which occurred while they were traveling to her home in Punta las Marias, San Juan. She died in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

, as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident. She was buried at the Puerto Rico Memorial Cemetery in

Carolina, Puerto Rico Carolina (; ) is a city and municipality located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. It lies immediately east of the capital San Juan and Trujillo Alto; north of Gurabo and Juncos; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread over ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Ada 1959 births 1980 deaths Miss Puerto Rico winners Miss Universe 1978 contestants People from Ponce, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican female models Puerto Rican people of Irish descent 20th-century American women 20th-century American people Universidad del Sagrado Corazón alumni

Early years

Model and beauty contestant

Death

See also

Notes

References