Look at Miss Ohio
My grandma was Miss Ohio in 1958. For a college theater project, I recorded and re-enacted an interview, asking my grandma to describe one of her favorite memories. It is now one of my favorite memories, too.
In my sophomore year of college at Bowling Green, I found myself in a theater course that required many hours of study and several challenging projects. I initially thought it would be a breeze, until I found myself transcribing hours of video interview for an ethnography project. For the project, students would conduct an interview, study and embody the characteristics of their interviewee, and recreate the interview as a live presentation; taking on the perspective of another to become someone else and tell their story. I chose my grandmother for the interview because she always told really good stories and had some neat opportunities in her late teen years. I wanted to have a video of my grandma that I could look back on one day and remember her by.
My grandmother, Lucinda Garrison (we called her Grandma Cindy), started modeling for department stores and then entered some local beauty pageants. She continued to model and participate in beauty pageants. In 1958 she was crowned Miss Ohio. Soon after, she flew to California for the Miss Universe Pageant. She would tell us about different friends she made from several countries and about the talent portion of the competition.
For her talent, she would have a volunteer from the audience come up on stage to have their portrait drawn. She would proceed to make a detailed sketch that resembled a black and white photograph; it was so precise. She won the talent portion of the Miss Ohio pageant. She was such a talented artist.
Ethnography for the scope of my project required me to videotape an interview with a family member or friend, asking them to describe a significant moment in their lives. I then had to transcribe the interview, study the video, and plan how I would present the story to my classmates. I had to replicate the exact nuances of each movement my grandma made in the video and mimic her animated way of telling a story. The voice inflection, facial expressions, eye movement, and body language had to be noted on the transcription and then I had to practice embodying all of those details in my presentation of the interview. I had to envision a way to introduce the story and present it to my classmates, exactly as it was told to me.
In the interview, my grandma told me about participating in the Miss Universe pageant. She explained that on a day following the pageant, she and the other girls were given the option of going to Disneyland for the day or visiting a veteran’s hospital. My grandma explained that she had already been to Disneyland and so she chose the veteran’s hospital. When she arrived, there was an older man lying in his bed alone. When she walked by his room, he tried to call out to her. She stopped and went in to visit him. He spoke softly and could barely talk but continued to try to communicate with my grandmother. She got closer to hear what he was saying, and finally he kissed her on the cheek. He then loudly and excitedly explained that he had seen her in the parade the day before and told his friends at the hospital that he would kiss Miss Ohio if he ever got the chance.
She smiled fondly at the memory. Winning the Miss Ohio pageant, being in parades, and participating in the Miss Universe pageant were all happy memories for my grandma; however, the memory she cherishes most is of an older veteran giving her a kiss on her cheek and the joy that brought him to talk with her and hold her hand. She said it seemed like he was just longing for human connection. It was a moment she would never forget.
I survived my project. My dad interviewed my grandmother on video using the questions I emailed him. He mailed the video to my dorm room, and it arrived just in time to allow me a weekend to work on the project. I typed up all the words from the interview and made note of different expressions my grandma made and how she would raise her eyebrows many times when telling a story. I was so nervous to present my project to the class, to remember all the details and words from the interview. I got through it and several classmates said they enjoyed the story. It was something that was out of my comfort zone but allowed me to create a beautiful memory that I will always have with me.
Grandma Cindy passed away on September 4th, 2021. Today, January 21st, 2023, would have been her 84th birthday.
I love the song "Look at Miss Ohio" by Gillian Welch. Every time I hear it, I think of my Grandma. I even learned to play it on guitar. My grandma. Our very own Miss Ohio.
