Country Road Chronicles: Local woman competed for Miss America

‘The dreams of a million girls who are more than pretty ….” So the Miss America anthem goes.

One of those dreamy girls was 22-year-old Marilyn Agnes Tripp of Westerly.

During the fall of 1932, Rev. Thomas Alfred Tripp of Illinois was appointed to serve the Congregational Church and made plans to relocate with his wife, Sarah Alice (Wimmer), and children to Connecticut

The Tripps moved into a house on South Broad Street in Pawcatuck and Marilyn attended West Broad Street School, where she served as class treasurer. In 1942, she graduated from Stonington High School.

Marilyn then entered the University of Connecticut, majoring in sociology. She was a popular student known fondly as “Trippie” and a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority, the choir, the glee club and the archery group. During the summer of 1945, she served as assistant director of the Westerly Playground. She graduated on June 6, 1946, her yearbook describing her as “a natural beauty with a voice to match.”

By this time, the Tripp family had moved to Stanton Street in Pawcatuck. On July 11 of that year, the American Legion held a carnival on the Nichols property on Potter Hill Road in Westerly. Ten girls had signed up to compete in the “Miss Westerly” pageant that evening but only two showed up, including Marilyn. Among the three judges who determined the winner were a Westerly police officer and a Providence Journal reporter.

The two girls made appearances in evening gowns and bathing suits. Marilyn walked away with the title.

The win made her eligible for the Miss Rhode Island pageant. Held on a Friday evening in August at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, the pageant showcased seven contestants who would be judged on poise and talent among other assets. The winner would be awarded a complete new wardrobe, a solitaire diamond, a wristwatch and an all-expenses-paid, one-week trip for the winner and a chaperone to Atlantic City, N.J., to compete in the Miss America pageant. Maryilyn won, and was headed to New Jersey to compete for Miss America.

The annual pageant, which first took place in 1921, was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Sept. 7. The contestants would be judged on their faces and figures, their vocal talents and the results of a mental quiz.

Marilyn stood at 5 feet, 6 inches and weighed 125 pounds. Her measurements were: bust, 35 inches; waist, 25; hips, 36; thigh, 18½, calf, 8¼; neck, 13; upper arm, 10; lower arm, 9¼; wrist, 6¼; shoe size, 7; and dress size, 14. Marilyn had undergone two years of voice training and planned to obtain a master’s degree in child development at the Iowa State Clinics.

When it came time for Bess Myerson of New York to pass down the Miss America crown that year, it was awarded to Miss California, Marilyn Jean Buferd. Buferd went on to become an actress who shared the screen with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Gina Lollobrigida. One of the girls who walked away without the coveted title that day was Cloris Leachman, future Academy Award-winning actress in such productions as “Twilight Zone” and “Gunsmoke.”

Marilyn Tripp became a teacher at the Emma Pendleton Bradley Home in Providence (now Bradley School). On Sept. 17, 1949, she married Richard Prentice Maine and they relocated to Evanston, Ill., where she became a kindergarten teacher.

The couple later returned to Connecticut, where Richard was employed by Electric Boat as a draftsman.

Marilyn died in Mobile, Ala., on Oct. 25, 1982. She and her husband are both buried in Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic.

Kelly Sullivan is a journalist and author who lives in Hope Valley. You can contact her at kjshem77@gmail.com.