Ypsilanti Girl 'Miss Legionnaire'; Ann Arbor Entrant Is Runnerup

Ypsilanti Girl ‘Miss Legionnaire’; Ann Arbor Entrant Is Runnerup
YPSILANTI – A demure 18-year-old brunet – Deloras Bivens of 618 Vought St. here – reigned at today’s Fourth of July festivities as Miss Legionnaire of 1955.
Judges for the sponsoring American Legion Post 282 selected Miss Bivens last night from a field of five finalists in the Legion’s second annual beauty contest. The event was held on stage at the Waterworks Park Carnival grounds.
Second place went to an Ann Arbor girl, Gertrude Wente, 18, of 1012 Miner St. Rosemarie Bloom, 20, of 357 Ohio St. Ypsilanti Township, placed third and will join Miss Wente in comprising Miss Legionnaire’s court.
The queen and her court received various prizes of merchandise and cash. They led this morning’s Forth of July parade in a convertible car and sat in the reviewing stand.
This afternoon, they were to greet Gov. G. Mennen Williams, who was slated for a 4:30 p.m. address at Waterworks Park and were to be guests at a Hotel Huron dinner tonight.
Mrs. Ernestine Ramey of 827 Ann St. here, last year’s Legion queen, crowned the new Miss Legionnaire.
Miss Bivens is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Everett D. Bivens and is a lifelong resident of this city. She attended Roosevelt High School and is employed as an assembler at the local Ford Motor Co. plant.
She is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 131. She is “going steady” but “not engaged as yet.”
The runner-up, Miss Wente, is a tall blonde and a native Ann Arborite. A 1954 graduate of Ann Arbor High School, she is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Wente and is employed by the Michigan Bell Telephone Co. in Ann Arbor. She is 5-10, and weighs 150.
Miss Bloom, a brunet, is 5-3 and weighs 129. She was born in Ypsilanti and has lived the last eight years in Ypsilanti township. A 1953 graduate of Roosevelt High School, she is employed by the Gulf Refining Co. in Ann Arbor as a bookkeeper.
Judges on stage were J. Richard Akin of Pittsfield Village, beauty salon operator, and Mrs. Margaret Molocy, office training instructor at Cleary College. Jimmie Hunt, local dance instructor who was the third judge, left on business before the stage judging but handed in his selections after reviewing the contestants earlier at the Legion home. George E. Stripp, a past-commander of Post 282, was contest chairman.