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Tenacity, courage, spirit typical of Ms. Senior Savannah contestants By Nancy Heffernan For Coastal Senior  There are those who say beauty is only skin deep and there are those who know that real beauty rises from within. Fourteen women over the age of 60 know this very well as they compete for the Ms. Senior Savannah crown in this year's pageant, on Friday, Oct. 13, at Trustees Theater.Friday the 13th? No ominous overtones with these social butterflies! They range in age from 61 to 81 and all agree that it's not the winning that counts but the very act of extending themselves, frightened or not, is what makes for invigorating fun. Sponsored by Candler's Care 65 program, this is the sixth Ms. Senior Savannah pageant to be held in the city since 1995. The winner will compete in the Ms. Senior Georgia pageant to be held in the Roswell area of Atlanta in March. It's a diverse crowd and they are enjoying every minute of it. The ladies will walk the stage in lovely evening gowns and dress out for sundry talent vignettes. "The folks over at Care 55 on Bull and Washington streets talked me into doing the pageant, but I don't do things well by myself", says Virginia Kirkland, 73. "This is a way to overcome this fear ... being alone on a stage in front of almost 1000 people ... this will help me to overcome my own simple fears of acting alone." She plans a military tap dance. "I love to dance: clogging, tap and line dancing. Dancing makes me feel so much better. It's my exercise! I feel like you need to push yourself in life. I'm glad that I've gotten this far and feel as good as I do and can do as much as I do and the more I do, the better I feel!" ××× Gloria Kazlow, 71, plans to read the poem ''A Young Girls Still Dwells.'' "It shows you what life can be at this time. I'll be wearing a shawl I wore at age 50 as a reminder of my younger years." The poem was found at the death of a nursing home patient many years ago, tucked into her clothing. No one really knows who wrote it, but it has circled the globe. "I think the young girl is still in all of us, and we remember her all the more as we grow older", said Kazlow. Many of the contestants still combine a lot of volunteer work, church activities and some even operate small businesses of their own, as they all feel that they have so much to give at this age. They spend a lot of time with their grandchildren and great grandchildren. ××× Tena Butler, at 81, has 14 grands and 15 great-grandchildren and has no problem keeping busy. "The people at my church treat me like I'm 35! They are always asking me to do things like I'm still a young girl. It's a blessing from God that I am still so lively. My children love to see me this way. Sometimes they think I should slow down, but I don't. I love to cut up for them. My 50-year-old daughter said, 'Momma! You are entering another pageant?' But then they fuss over me and want my hair to be perfect and all. They are really proud of me, deep down." This marks Butler's third pageant. She won Ms. Congeniality in 1996 and was the second runner-up for the Ms. Savannah crown in 1998. She placed in the top 10 in the Ms. Senior Georgia contest last year. "I love people. I don't try to be anybody but me. There's not but one Tena! I think God threw away the mold after he made me." She will arrange a medley of three spiritual hymns for the stage. ××× Cleon Peters, 71, will do a hula dance. "I didn't even realize I was in my 70s until I turned 71!" Active as a dance instructor for 25 years, she taught in Alabama and in Savannah with Marilyn Yomans. She is active in her church and with Ala Oba, a fund-raising axillary associated with the Shriners Oriental Band. A first-time pageant participant, her only problem seems to be finding a really winsome hula skirt. ××× "Being a member of the (Candler) Care 65 Club has kept me as busy as I want to be", says Gloria Betz, 73. "It doesn't matter what your talents are at this age, whether it's baking a cake, singing, dancing or what. The idea is to stay active." Betz visits the sick through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), as a clown. "I had so much fun evolving my character as a clown. As I learned to apply my makeup, I discovered a whole new personality." She goes to Catholic Mass and takes a meditative walk every morning. "It's a tool to keep me going. Jack yourself up and get out of the house!", says Betz. "Don't stay left out. Stay involved. Join the future, so you can at least have better conversations with your grandchildren." Drawing from her activities, Betz is planning a bingo skit for her talent show. ××× Several of these undaunted women have had to hurdle serious health issues. Nearly 31 years ago, when 61-year-old Shirley Turner's children were only 7 and 10, she underwent a bilateral mastectomy. "It wasn't a fine art in those days," she recalls. Because of special needs, Turner learned to sew her own clothes, and now she's developed a character in costume to read to children in a reading recovery program in Chatham County. "I take the lowest scoring children and help them with big books that I make. They learn so fast with special help and some of my first-graders actually read at sixth-grade levels now.'' For Turner's talent, she will re-enact this effort she makes with little readers as her costumed character "Mrs. Wishy-Washy." "The Lord has been good to me. Cancer is nothing like other trials I've had to face." ××× Jeanine Lamb, 63, taught dance with a cane for a year after knee surgery. "I fought cancer, too, and a subsequently damaged lung after that. After that, I had to deal with fibro myalgia, but I'm so much better now." Lamb has taught clogging with the Windsor Forest Golden Age Center for five years. ''Slowly, I encouraged my students to dance performances for others and they are so shy at first. Now they all look forward to these demonstrations for everyone. You gain the self-confidence you need in life if you work at it. As I have gotten older, I've gotten bolder. I can't give up because I would just shrivel up!" ××× Savannahians remember Carolyn's Florist over on Hwy. 80 in Pooler. Retired now, florist Carolyn Bashlor, 66, still occupies herself with people. "The main reason I took part in this (pageant) was to meet new people." She challenges other seniors to reach out. "Once, I decided that I needed to meet more of my neighbors, so I started baking banana cakes and struck out into the neighborhood. I have met over 80 people now and feel like I have come into people's lives exactly at the right time for all of us. If you love, you have to give it," she exudes. "If you want attention, you have to give it. If you want to be built up, you have to build up. You reap what you sew. I once heard a quote: 'To the world you may be just one person, but to one person, you may be the world!' Just sending a card to someone can save a life. That one little thing can make all the difference to someone who might think that there is no one out there that cares. Anyone can have an this impact as a life builder, even from a wheelchair." Bashlor suffers from dyslexia and didn't master reading until she was 19. But she has written two books -- ''Yes You Can!'' and ''Getting It All Together'' -- drawing from her own life's struggles along with those of other women. The books are spiritual books backed up with biblical scriptures. "We need to be more concerned with the I Can's rather than the 'IQ's," Bashlor says. ''I feel like I have so much still to give to others." ××× "At my age, I grab all the gusto I can get,'' declares Mildred Williams, 72. "It keeps me young and healthy. I just take one day at a time and live life for the fullest." She says she takes her strength from God, family and friends. "Since retirement, I have more time for my grandchildren and whatever I enjoy doing. You don't know how long you'll have to be able to enjoy the things you want to do. If you don't, you are wasting precious time. Do it while you can," Williams says. "Nothing is worse than if you are physically unable to do the things you want to do." Her family is planning a reception for the stage star after the performance at the Marshall House. Williams will sing Johnny Mercer's song "Skylark." ××× Working as a licenced practical nurse, Margaret Doctor, 68, has recently cut back to part-time status as a Life Care nurse. Surgery on a cervical disk slowed her down a tad. She will wear an African gown sewn for her by a church member as she reads Maya Angelou's poem ''The Phenomenal Woman.'' Doctor calls on her love for care-giving to remind us that "The elderly are our jewels. They have so much to say, if you will only take the time to listen." Her 30 years as a nurse gives her the authority to suggest that we remember "They deserve our respect and humanitarian calling." She drives from Savannah to Hilton Head, still serving others, three times a week. ××× October Disher's passion is exercising at age 61. "I go to the YMCA four times a week and to a yoga class once a week. I can't sing or dance, but my talent is what I do best." She will perform an aerobic routine during her segment. "I got involved because I wanted to stretch myself in a different way,'' Disher said, referring to the pageant. "Staying fit gives me the energy to live my life at its fullest." ××× Telling ghost stories is what 61-year-old Artis Wood has turned into a walking tour business from her home in uptown Savannah. She'll wear a Victorian gown as she tells us what she swears is a true story about a local female ghost. "This makes getting old fun. Taking time for yourself can be balanced with sharing with others. I think female bonding happens tremendously whenever women gather like this,'' she says on her involvement in the show. "It's not a win-or-lose situation because we all have something to gain by having fun at this age." ××× "I've forgotten how old I am" said Mary Simmons. She simply stresses the creativity of being alive. "Last year, in my first pageant for Ms. Senior Savannah, I shocked my husband! He said: 'I didn't know you could do that!' But I've been a schoolteacher all my life and I have always helped my students in their talent shows. I never had any formal training in dance, but I would just do it, creating all these dance routines for the kids to do. I call it 'creative dance'." Simmons will surprise us with a rendition in creative tap. ××× Mona Byrd, 66 is all-American, if Canadian born. She runs a business with her husband making flags and banners and is proud to call the city of Savannah their client. "That was my flag behind the new Police Chief Flynn as he made his debut press conference the other day,'' Byrd said. ''Ours fly in several business in town along with the ones you see now on top of City Hall." Ever since she was 4 years old, she has been singing and writing country songs. "Everything that would interest me, I would write about.'' At a very young age Byrd heard Hank Snow sing over the radio, and she began writing him, maintaining a long relationship with him until his death. "He became famous in Nashville as we became good friends. I love to write music and lyrics and he supported me in my own efforts in writing over many years." She's made a few published recordings and they sing the uplifting lilt of her calling. During her talent segment, she will sing one of the songs,''The Grey Heads of America:'' ''The gray heads of America are a mighty voice today. They've done a lot of living and they've still got lots to say, making ripples in the system they've lived in for so long, the grey heads in America are strong! |
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