 She was named Arizona's Junior Miss for 1961, and traveled with "Kurley-Q" to Mobile, Alabama, for the national finals, where she placed in the top ten.Her next major pageant was the 1962 Miss Phoenix competition.She later won the Miss Tempe crown in 1964, then Miss Maricopa County, then Miss Arizona, and finally Miss America, where she was the first contestant to use ventriloquism in the talent competition.