Maria Beale Fletcher (born June 23, 1942) is an American beauty pageant contestant who was Miss America 1962.

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 Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

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

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) 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 C ...

Rockette 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 university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

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 (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

d to a recording of herself singing “Somebody Loves Me.” She remains the only Miss North Carolina to be crowned

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

Career

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

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, 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