Care home group crowns queen
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
First runner-up Dorothy Carrel, left, Queen Janis Irvine, center, and second runner-up Dorothy Sommer react after receiving trophies and flowers at the conclusion of Friday’s District 2 Missouri Health Care Association Ms. Missouri Nursing Home Pageant. As queen, Irvine will advance to the statewide pageant this August in Branson.
Nine long-term care center residents competed Friday at the Maryville Community Center for the title of District 2 Missouri Health Care Association Ms. Missouri Nursing Home Queen.
The winner, Janis Irvine, of Pleasant View nursing home in Rock Port, will now advance to the statewide pageant to be held this August in Branson during MHCA’s annual convention.
First runner-up in Friday’s district pageant was Dorothy Carrel of the Gower (Mo.) Convalescent Center. Second runner-up was Dorothy Sommer of Tiffany Heights nursing home in Mound City.
Three contestants from Maryville participated in the event: Better Kiser of Golden Living Center, Irene Renshaw of Nodaway Nursing Home and Scharlene Drummond of Village Care Center. The remaining contestants were Linda Scott of Pearl’s II Eden for Elders in Princeton, Nina Bingham of McLarney Manor in Brookfield and Evelyn Doebbling of Oregon (Mo.) Care Center.
During the competition each of the contestants recounted episodes from their life story and answered questions about family relationships, travel, careers, hobbies, volunteer work and achievements posed by master of ceremonies Dave Hugger, who pastors a church in St. Joseph and also serves as a chaplain with AseraCare Hospice.
All of the contestants had earlier won similar pageants at the care facilities were they reside, and each was presented with a small bouquet and statuette during Friday’s event. Carrel and Sommer also received large bouquets and trophies, as did Irvine, who as district queen was also crowned with a sparkling, silver tiara.
“I’m excited,” said Renshaw, during a luncheon that preceded the pageant. “I’m surprised that so many have turned up for it. It’s all kind of surprise to me.”
Asked her age, Renshaw, 90, smiled and said, “Everybody stays 39 for a long time.”
Pageant coordinator Karen Fletchall, who serves as administrator of Village Care Center in Maryville, said contestants relish the chance to take part in the annual event, which is designed as a celebration of long lives well lived.
“It’s all about these ladies today,” Fletchall said. “We’re celebrating their accomplishments and their lives. Every person has a history, and we want to show that, for people living in care homes, there is a lot of living left to be done and still to be enjoyed.
“This is almost like the prom for these ladies. They take it very seriously.”
Michelle Walters, director of education for the Jefferson City-based Missouri Health Care Association, an advocacy organization representing 350 care homes statewide, said the seven district pageants held each year serve to validate lives resonant with achievement, perseverance and wisdom.
All of the participants are winners already, Walters said, and deserve a day devoted to making them feel unique and appreciated.
“They get to think, ‘This is all for me, and I feel so special today,’” she said. “That’s what it’s all about.
MHCA’s District 2 covers care facilities in Atchison, Nodaway, Holt, Andrew, Buchanan, Platte, Worth, Gentry, DeKalb, Clinton, Harrison, Daviess, Caldwell, Ray, Carroll, Livingston, Grundy and Mercer counties.
