An update from Shirley....

I'm from a pioneer KS family: Dad is a charter member of the KS Sports Hall of Fame.  My sister Dr. Genevieve Hargiss, Professor Emeritus at KU, is a member of the KS Teachers Hall of Fame.

After the Pageant I played and sang in supper clubs for a couple years in  NYC.  I got married and raised 4 children--all grown and doing well.  Daughter Heide is profiled in The Illustrator in America Almanac.  Husband died early and, since I had already graduated from Northwestern University in Music, I went back to school and got an MME from University of Missouri and taught school music.

In 1965 I judged the Miss KS Pageant that sent Debbie Bryant to Atlantic City. (See the photo of Shirley in the white tuxedo!) I helped with her talent and got Dr. Goff, head of KU Theater Department, to coach her on pantomime.  As you know, she became Miss America.

After that I was asked to judge a lot of state pageants.  Miss Slaughter, former Director, had me go back to Atlantic City quite a lot.

I  moved to San Diego and got  Special Education and Resource Specialist credentials from San Diego State University and  taught at San Diego High School for 8 yrs.  In 1988 I played one of the grand pianos in the Superbowl half-time show in San Diego put on by Radio City Music Hall.

Organizations I belonged to were Kappa Kappa Gamma,  Mu Phi Epsilon, Pi Kappa Lambda, MENSA and The  Kansas City Music Club.

For the last 20 years I've shown cats in CFA and have a lot of Grand Champions and Regional Winners

Shirley Hargiss Oberheide