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> >Condolences to the family and friends of these six >noted Wisconsin people (by alphabetical order) that >were involved in pageantry who died since February >2024: > >1---Nancy Ann Peterson Bekkedal, 72, of Viroqua, >Wisconsin died on Friday, February 2, 2024. She was >active with the local Miss Viroqua pageant in Vernon >County (which was never a local preliminary for Miss >Wisconsin). >http://www.rothfamilycremation.com/obituary/Nancy-Bekke >dal > >2---Linda Deborah Chambers Hughes, age 71, died on >March 1, 2024. She was named first runner-up in the >1971 Miss Racine pageant, making Linda the first >African American to place in this Miss Wisconsin local >preliminary competition. >http://www.palmerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Linda-Hughes >http://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-times/121 >222346/ > >(Note--among the contestants in 1971 were Jacqueline >Jean Matson (chosen Miss Racine 1971) and Carol Kelly, >who later became the wife of award-winning UW-Madison >basketball coach (2001--2015) William Francis "Bo" >Ryan, Jr.) > >3---Sally Joan "Joni" Waller Jaeger, age 87, formerly >of Madison, Wisconsin, died on Saturday, March 16, >2024. She was Miss New Jersey in the 1955 Miss America >pageant, and later moved to Madison, Wisconsin where >she was one of first female real estate agents in >Madison. > >Recently, she relocated to Woodbury, Minnesota to be >closer to family, and died there last month. All >during her life, she was a fan of pageants within the >Miss America program. >http://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/woodbury-mn/j >oni-jaeger-11718796 > >4---Mary Louise (Mary Lou) Blanchette Lewis, 87, of >Oshkosh, Wisconsin died on Sunday, April 14, 2024. The >year before the Miss Wisconsin pageant moved from >Kenosha to Oshkosh in 1963, Mary Lou was already the >producer and director of the Miss Oshkosh pageant. > >She spent 50 years with the Miss Wisconsin >Organization as the usher/usherette committee >chairperson and coordinated the tickets sales for the >state pageant each June, and she was a noted pageant >historian. In recent years she was a gold patron >member of the Miss Wisconsin scholarship fund. > >Her husband, Richard Lewis, who died in May 2014, was >the Miss Wisconsin executive director from 1973 to >1974. >http://www.fissbillspoklasnyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/ >Mary-Louise-Lewis/#!/Obituary > >5---Ellen M. Overson Stey, age 79, of Elkhorn, >Wisconsin, died on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. She >was a UW-Madison student at the time she was the >Madison entrant in the 1963 Miss Wisconsin-USA >pageant, where she was named as the second runner-up. >http://www.haaselockwoodfhs.com/obituary/Ellen-Stey > >6---Gwendolyn "Wendi" Rose Schuster, age 58, of Sun >Prairie, Wisconsin, died on Sunday, March 20, 2024. In >1995, the Racine native was chosen as Ms. Wisconsin, >the first ever disabled contestant to win that state >title. > >During the time of her reign as Ms. Wisconsin 1995, >and long after she had crowned her successor, Wendi >spoke with the media, visited schools and provided >inspirational addresses to audiences around the state. >She spoke about the hazards of drunk driving, losing >her mother, having a leg amputated, and surviving >breast cancer---and still being able to live a >worthwhile life. >http://journaltimes.com/news/local/schuster-hopes-other >s-learn-from-her-tragedy/article_13f4d02c-fe43-5ee8-81a >a-48f4a5f48d9f.html >http://www.cressfuneralservice.com/obituaries/gwendolyn >-schuster > > >Sympathy to all families of these pageant women.

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