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Show Family Weekly September j, 1966 ' - . i I 77 , - ' VV - 1 i. - ..,- .li.. - f . si l .Why I Gave Up LIE rl lii - Uf-lnn - n r ini if i -- Iw 1 i-- i- - Mice Ainpnrfl rvv i vv-- V 'VI mi vnf . This California beauty; had fust won the right to compete in America's top beauty contest r but 30 minutes later she turned in her crown! At, At! vkii I rj f I i U - , Mr' n. . , II I - By DONNA COLEEN DANZER Mia Cafifomia (for One-Ha- lf I was crowned Editors' Note: Last June ts after a reign of only SO minutes the newly crowned Miss California, Donna Coleen Danzer, 10, of El Monte, abdicated her titleto the runner-u- p Charlene Diane Dallas, 19, of Danville. Here, in her own words, Donna tells what caused her to turn down a coveted honor that millions of girls dream about. 4 i! I ,rfv - - l ' 1 Emotional Donna Danzer is comforted by boy friend Hourl) and a $2,000 college scholarship. ; But since I already tuuLa scholarship for four years . before .1 entered the contest, the ; contest scholarship was not of to me. now that I have had time Only to reflect on what happened do I -see things more clearly. To start with, I honestly didn't know what was involved in winning such a contest. It oil began three years ago when I first toyed with the idea of .. entering the local Miss El Monte pageant. I like to do as many things I en aa j)Q8sible,-an- d before people. Yet I didn't do anything about it at the time because When California shortly before midnight onJune 26, I broke mtoearatotlears $2,000-a-ye- . great-signif- icance of happiness. Not tears of relief. But tears of honesMo- goodness fear ! I knew I didn't want" the title. didn't want to compete in Atlantic City Sept. 10 for the Miss America crown. But how could I make that understood to the people who believed in me? It was the first time my home town had sent a rontestantjtnd I TelTthal whatever I did would reflect not only on myself but on my home town aa well. : The next SO minutes were the most agonizing ones of my life. Out jn the audience were my parents; my boy friend. Marine Cpl. Bill Wells; and a good many others who had rooted for me all the way. Would they think of me as imma' ture and insecure? Certainly the financial benefits of winning the title hadn't inter ested me. To this day, I still don't know exactly what the queen wins. Someone told me she would get $10,000, a new automobile, $75 for each of her personal appearances, 1 When Donna, left, turned the Miss California crown over to Charlene Dallas, both girls broke into tears. Family Weekly, September i,1966 . . culture.-Nowlw- . " ing it-w- . -- maintain my in Pomona I can-- re have stressed member, my parents the importance of an education. - But this vyear I had "no great ' difficulty maintaining my grades, and I decided to enter the contest after all. I won, and my parents, my friends,- - and I couldn't have been more pleased y:. College. .. - -- moreimportant-toTme-.toJ- as For as Jong-- as -- -- . -- days before I was to leave for the Miss California contest in Santa Cruz.. For three months, I had lived in Dijon, France, with 11 Mother. American students as part of a cial program which gave us a chance to live in the environment of a foreign looking forward to seeing my family again. But three days before I was to leave for Santa Cruz, I received a letter from one of the contest officials informing me that if 'I won I would live in the home of one of the hosts of the pageant,. Mr. knd Mrs. Shon, for the summer. a certain amount of traveling, ft never oc-curred to me that I might have to be away from home so long! Still, the full responsibilities of Miss California did not really begin to sink in until I arrived in Santa Cruz and got acquainted with some of the past Miss "Calif ornias.' I learned that if I woi, I would, for the five months following the contest, have absolutely no time to myself not even weekends to spend with my family, or my boy friend, i " i; -- ar after the rejected title. -- as ingojnJttre-LtolheJIisa- - California contest was only a logical step, and one I looked forward to. The first doubts entered my mind when I returned from Europe 10 near El Monte. I Perhaps I am attached to home more than most girls because my father was disabled seven years ago ii II ii : |
