Curro, now 75, has been participating in Ms. Senior America
since she was 70. But the Aug. 12 contest, held at the Santa
Clara’s Valley Village Retirement Community, was the first time
she’s taken first place in the local pageant.
Hollister – Fannie Curro may live in Hollister, but to win the local Ms. Senior America pageant, she drew on her New York City roots.
The competition has three parts – modeling evening wear, delivering a 35-second philosophy of life and showing off a talent, Curro said. This year, Curro delivered a monologue from the musical “Hello, Dolly!” She said it was easy to slip back into her old New York accent.
“It didn’t even feel like acting,” Curro said.
Curro, now 75, has been participating in Ms. Senior America since she was 70. But the Aug. 12 contest, held at the Santa Clara’s Valley Village Retirement Community, was the first time she’s taken first place in the local pageant. Curro will go on to compete for the title of Ms. Senior California on Sept. 30 in Orange County.
Marilyn McCabe-Kohler, the pageant’s statewide director, said Curro was definitely worthy of the award.
“She’s so animated and positive,” McCabe-Kohler said.
The contest – as well as the “Sizzling Seniors In Motion” performance group that grew out of it – is an important part of the women’s lives, added McCabe-Kohler, herself a former contestant. It gives them something to look forward to, she said, rather than being “locked in front of the television set.”
“Otherwise, it’s, ‘What day is it, Harry?'” McCabe-Kohler said. “‘Did you feed the dog yet?'”
Organizing the event every year is a lot of work, she said, but it’s worth it to see all the women come out of their shells.
“First, you’re somebody’s daughter,” McCabe-Kohler said. “Then you’re a wife. Then you’re a mother. And then you’re a grandmother. Then what you have is a chance to say, ‘This is me. This is the really me.’
“It’s the last hurrah.”
Curro has become something of a spokeswoman for Ms. Senior America in the Northern California area, in part because it’s a challenge for McCabe-Kohler to promote the Northern California pageant from her Southern California home in Laguna Hills.
It’s often a challenge to convince women in “the age of elegance” – those over 60 – to take stage, Curro said. But she did rope her friend Nellie Ortega of Gilroy into participating. Ortega ended up snagging the first runner-up spot and will join Curro in the statewide contest.
“All you need is a nudge,” Curro said.
For her part, Curro also hesitated when first asked to participate five years ago.
“I don’t have a talent,” she protested.
But Curro eventually choreographed a three-minute dance set to “La Bamba” that incorporated moves from virtually every dance she knew. The performance earned her the title of fourth runner-up statewide.
Since retiring, Curro said she has learned to be daring. She recalled a ski trip to Squaw Valley that ended early when the weather looked threatening. When she and her friends stopped at a diner on the way home, Curro nearly choked to death on piece of food.
“I realized that I didn’t want to stay on the mountain, but instead I almost died sitting in a restaurant,” Curro said. “So I thought, “What have you done with your life, Fannie?'”
Soon after, Curro started traveling. She’s made stops in Japan, Sarajevo, Thailand, Peru, many of the capitals of Europe and other locales.
Although she’s 75, Curro likes to say, “I feel like I’m 39 and act like I’m 19.” She certainly has an un-matronly sense of humor. For instance, Curro said she got a kick out of introducing a tennis instructor who had rented a room from her and who she “treated like a son” as her “former live-in tennis coach.”
“Then the eyebrows go up,” Curro said, laughing. “I love doing it.”
One of the hardest parts of the competition, Curro said, is cramming a philosophy of life into 35 seconds. This year, she took on the challenge by coming up with a short, funny rhyme.
Reciting the poem from memory, Curro said the secret of life is learning to forget the unpleasant memories, the bad attitudes, the insults.
“But,” she said, “I don’t forget to color the gray streaks in my hair.”
