Louise Roy is Ms. Senior Santa Clara; on to state
Louise Roy, a retired San Benito High School art teacher, has
gone a long time between pageant entries.
”
My sister who was 3 was Miss Wading Pool, and I was Miss Smile
when I was 5,
”
she said.
On July 25 she took another crown
– that of Ms. Senior Santa Clara, in which she competed with
seven other women over the age of 60. Roy will be traveling to
Carlsbad next week to compete in the Ms. Senior California Pageant
Aug 14, in which the top three from six preliminaries will be in
the finals.
Roy is the epitome of an active senior, and she said sometimes
she feels busier since she retired.
”
My feeling was you want to retire before you burn out,
”
she said.
”
I didn’t want to burn out. As a teacher, I had a really good
run
– and then this grandbaby finally came along.
”
Louise Roy is Ms. Senior Santa Clara; on to state
Louise Roy, a retired San Benito High School art teacher, has gone a long time between pageant entries.
“My sister who was 3 was Miss Wading Pool, and I was Miss Smile when I was 5,” she said.
On July 25 she took another crown – that of Ms. Senior Santa Clara, in which she competed with seven other women over the age of 60. Roy will be traveling to Carlsbad next week to compete in the Ms. Senior California Pageant Aug 14, in which the top three from six preliminaries will be in the finals.
Roy is the epitome of an active senior, and she said sometimes she feels busier since she retired.
“My feeling was you want to retire before you burn out,” she said. “I didn’t want to burn out. As a teacher, I had a really good run – and then this grandbaby finally came along.”
Though she is not working full time, she continues to substitute teach at the high school. She is involved in the Arts in the Classroom program and has volunteered her time at summer school.
She is the president of the Hollister Art League, and meets once a week with the members. She has also started teaching hula and belly dancing again, a throwback to her years as a professional dancer before she moved to San Benito and became a teacher.
“In Los Angeles, I worked with several groups and worked in the motion picture industry,” she said. “I did a lot of belly dancing on television. When I first moved here I taught at Juanita’s dance study.”
But she said once she got her teaching credential, she became more focused on her classroom and artwork. She worked at the high school for 22 years.
As for the pageant, she said her main reason for signing on was for fun and to meet new people.
“You become a senior and you never expect these kinds of things to happen,” Roy said. “As a young girl, I looked at Miss America and that it was lovely. But as you get older, it’s something you put out of your mind. It’s something you don’t think about. When they asked (me to compete), I just started laughing and said ‘what a kick.'”
Nellie Robinson-Ortega, the director of the Ms. Senior Santa Clara County pageant, said it is not a beauty contest.
“It’s about inner beauty, and outer beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and colors,” she said.
Robinson-Ortega, a Hollister native who now lives in Gilroy, got involved with the pageant because “I went to state and just loved it – the fellowship and the sisterhood we had.”
One of her goals is to increase the number of participants in the local pageant, perhaps adding another Northern California competition in the Central Valley. She also wants to create opportunities for the women to perform throughout the year.
The competition has a talent segment, an evening gown modeling segment, an interview with judges, but some participants agree that it is their philosophy of life that is most important.
Roy memorized her philosophy, in which she said, “I wake up every morning with gratitude in my heart.” She also said she was born to be an artist and teacher, and she wants to continue to engage her students. While she has suffered loss, it has tested her and made her a stronger person, she said.
Roy lost a 21-year-old son to drinking and driving.
For the past few years, she has been involved in the “Every 15 Minutes” program at San Benito High School and other area high schools, which discourages drinking and driving.
Though she said she entered the competition without thinking about winning, she was pleased when she did.
“I still got it,” she said. “When you go into something like this, you want to keep it in perspective…It made me proud I took on the challenge and did it. It was good for my ego. I’ve been on a high all week.”
