Thanks to Clothesline Laundromat, Inver Grove Ford, and Block Portrait Studios for their support.
On June 5, 1961, West St. Paul teen Nancee Parkinson was crowned Miss Minnesota. The 18-year-old was named fourth runner-up in the Miss America pageant and went on to be a teacher, spokesperson, and had a short career in Hollywood.
Like other pageant participants, she wanted to be a teacher. Why? “Because it’s so rewarding to work with little children,” said Parkinson, who attended Mankato State College.
Parkinson graduated from Sibley High School in West St. Paul and served as the homecoming princess her senior year and won a best actress award her junior year.
For several years after Parkinson’s win, signs at the city limits declared West St. Paul to be the “Home of Miss Minnesota.”
Miss America
The Miss America pageant in September 1961 is supposedly the highest rated Miss America telecast ever and is ranked among the top 100 television events of all time. Maria Fletcher of North Carolina won the crown and was named Miss America 1962.
- Parkinson earned a preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Award and was judged best in the preliminary swimsuit competition. Parkinson showcased her talent of modern calypso jazz dancing.
Here’s footage of the Miss America pageant where Parkinson gets fourth runner-up:
Promotion: Miss Hillbilly
While working as a sixth grade teacher in Pensacola, Florida, Parkinson landed a job as the Miss Hillbilly spokesperson for Hillbilly Bread. She did TV and radio commercials and traveled nationally.
“I love it. It gives me a chance to get some of the real me out,” Parkinson said. “I see a hillbilly as all-American. After all, hillbillies were the original Americans, beside the Indians, you know. I love the Americana idea.”
Hollywood
Parkinson had a stint in Hollywood, apparently appearing on the Johnny Carson show multiple times and starring as Daisy Mae in the 1971 made-for-TV movie Li’l Abner, a musical comedy based on the comic strip.
Parkinson died in in 2017 from complications from diabetes.
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