1944 Miss America Pageant

Pageant Results > Miss America Pageant > 1944

Venus Ramey, Miss District of Columbia, won the 1944 Miss America Pageant at the height of World War II.  She was crowned by her predecessor, Jean Bartel Miss America 1943 of California.  She was a standout due to both her exotic name and her vibrant red hair. Although actually from Kentucky, Venus won the title while working as a secretary in the nation’s capital.

Venus won the preliminary swimsuit competition wearing a black swimsuit with the customary modesty panel, and then won the preliminary talent competition by performing a song and dance routine to “Take It Easy.”

From a family of politicians, she later ran for state office in Kentucky. She eventually married and divorced an automobile dealer, and reared two sons.

As of 2013, she was still alive and living on a farm in Kentucky. At age eighty-two, when the former queen encountered four young men she thought were stealing from her farm, she blocked their vehicle with her truck and shot out their tires and, to prevent them from leaving, held them at gunpoint with her .38 revolver  until authorities arrived. Still feisty!

Miss America Winners 1944 Venus Ramey

Miss America winners of the 1940s:   1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949

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