Friday, September 22, 2006


The Past of Patsy - Part 3

The Charleston Gazette, April 13, 1978

Miss West Virginia To Appear at Bank

Travel and tourism in West Virginia will be promoted by Patsy Paugh, Miss West Virginia 1978, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Charleston National Bank.

Dave Callaghan, director of the state Department of Natural Resources, will be at the bank at 1:30 p.m. to discuss state tourism. Miss Paugh, a junior at West Virginia University, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Paugh of Smith Road.


The Past of Patsy - Part 2

The Charleston Gazette, June 22, 1977

BEAUTIFUL CASE OF DETERMINATION

Meet Miss West Virginia, Survivor Of Pageant Fever

This year's Miss West Virginia has a chronic case of what she diagnoses as "Pageant Fever." The virus has been in her blood ever since her sophomore year in high school when she was named first runner-up in the Miss Teen-Age West Virginia contest.

Five years later, Patsy Paugh is as pageant-prone as ever. But she no longer is willing to settle for second best. Or third best. It is. this try-try-again determination that explains why Patsy will be represententing West Virginia in the Miss America Pageant at Atlantic City come September.

With an eye trained on the state title, Patsy entered her first preliminary contest in Morgantown where she recently completed her sophomore year at West Virginia University. She was named second runner-up to Miss Morgantown. Undaunted, she entered the Miss Wood County preliminary competition. This time she rose a notch to first runner-up. In a last-chance stab at qualifying for the state competition, Patsy entered the contestant-at-large contest, where she competed against five other entrants, all of whom had been runnersup in earlier contests, making the competition particulary keen. This time, however, Patsy shed her runner-up image and came out on top.

In retrospect Patsy comments, "If I had won the first time I tried, I probably wouldn't have been Miss West Virginia. I learned and improved each time I entered. Originally I had planned to delay a year, but Teresa Lucas, last year's Miss West Virginia, encouraged me to enter. When I didn't win, she advised me to keep trying.

"My talent is a dramatic interpretation that I wrote based on a portion of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I play two characters — Miss Mackay, the stern head mistress, and Jean Brodie, the eccentric, vivacious school teacher. When I won second place in the National Forensic Tournament in Philadelphia the interpretation was 10 minutes long. For the talent competition it had to be cut to two minutes and 50 seconds. It's very difficult to establish character and build to a dramatic climax in less than three minutes."

Last fall Patsy attended the Miss America pageant where she closely observed the contestants and took meticulous notes. The day after she arrived back in Parkersburg, she called her speech coach, Linda McLean, and said, "Let's get to work."

What motivated Patsy to begin preparations at once was the consistently professional and polished calibre of the performances at the national pageant. She realized that being "good" was not "good enough" for an aspiring Miss America. The level of her presentation must be refined and redefined, revised and rehearsed until it was as nearly perfect as possible. After nearly a year of analyzing every inflection, expression and gesture of the characterizations, she continues to search for the smallest glint of an eye or toss of the head that might add dimension to her characterizations.

A certain amount of backstage nervousness is inevitable, says Patsy — even desirable, since it "gets the adrenalin going." But on stage, she says, "I feel very relaxed about my talent. When I say the first few lines and get everyone else in the palm of my hand, then I go into my own little world. It's as if I'm completely alone. I know how large Convention Hall is, how many people there are in the audience. Thinking about it could make you panic. And talent counts 50 per cent in the judging, you know."

For Patsy an exciting side benefits of winning the Miss West Virginia title was a recent three-day shopping spree in New York City during which visited designer showrooms and selected six evening gowns under the trained eye of Ralph Nelson, an executive of Belle's, the Huntington store that for several years has provided Miss West Virginia's formal wardrobe. Her coffee-gold, elaborately beaded competition gown is a $1400 original. "There will never be another one like it," says Patsy, "because we bought the sample. When I tried it on, it fit perfectly so they let us have it."

With the assistance of her business manager and official chaperone, Betty Smith, Patsy this week will select a complimentary $1000 casual wardrobe from J. C. Penney in Parkersburg.

Although Patsy was a resident of Parkersburg when she won the state title, by a corporate quirk Charleston is making up for last year's disappointment when the family of the title-holder, Teresa Lucas, moved from neighboring Fayette County to faraway Elkins. This year the situation is reversed. Two weeks ago the Donald Paughs moved into their new home on Smith Road, ending more than six months of commuting from Parkersburg following a transfer here by Union Carbide.

The eldest of three daughters, Patsy detects distinct symptoms of Pageant Fever in her 17-year-old sister, Pam, who last fall was selected Miss Wood County Fair, a title held two years ago by her elder sister. Pam also won the title of Miss Teen Bicentennial of America. When, owing to illness. Pam's mother had to cancel out as her chaperone at the national finals in Lansing. Mich., Patsy volunteered to take over, serving as hairdresser, wardrobe mistress, make-up consultant and false eyelash expert. In the process, says Patsy, she gained an appreciation of how difficult the job of a chaperone is. "It's not half as much fun as being a contestant," she remarks, "and it's lots harder work."

The youngest of the Paugh daughters, Paulette, is a dynamic 13-year-old who in her short time as a Charlestonian already has organized a Patsy Paugh Fan Club and revels in showing off to her peers the 1977 Cutlass Supreme provided for her big sister by Wharton Cadallic-Olds of Parkersburg. "Paulette isn't into pageants yet, but when the time comes she's going to be the tallest and prettiest of all," Patsy predicts.

Patsy and Betty Smith will leave for Atlantic City on Sept. 3 where they will be guests at the Shelburne Hotel. "We're going two days early," explains Betty, "because I like to get things in order ahead of time."

Last year Patsy was Teresa Lucas's most ardent booster in Atlantic City, and this year Teresa Lucas will be on hand to exchange roles with her Alpha Xi Delta sorority sister. Teresa was one of a half-dozen state contestants chosen following the pagaent for a USO tour of the Orient. The tour begins on July 15 and will conclude with a television appearance during the televised finals of the Pageant on Sept. 10.

Patsy is delighted that her parents, sisters and Teresa all will be there to share her moments in the spotlight.

"I'll be giving the grand performance of my life in Atlantic City," she explains. "This is my only chance, and I intend to do my very best. If that's not good enough, there will be no regrets. I'll know I did everything I could."

The Past of Patsy - Part 1

The Charleston Gazette, June 22, 1977

Parkersburg Woman Miss West Virginia

PARKERSBURG - A 20-year-old journalism student at West Virginia University has been selected Miss West Virginia.

Patsy Paugh, a Parkersburg native, will receive a $1,700 scholarship, a $2,000 formal wardrobe and $1,000 casual wardrobe, and a blue fox fur coat for taking top honors in the eighth annual Miss West Virginia competition, held in Parkersburg.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Jameson, try reading the text as it is written. What does it say again?

"I hated to see her played up as some sort of little beauty queen. I guess it was something she liked to do," recalled former High Peaks Principal Barbara Chomko.

And despite your statement that "Barbara Chomko was never the principal when JonBenet was at High Peaks" (a fact the Daily News article does not assert), the Rocky Mountain News of December 28, 1996 does correctly note:

"She was a very bright child,'' said Barbara Chomko, director of secondary education for the district and former principal at High Peaks.

Just the facts, ma'am.