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The Ms. Senior Universe/USA Pageant winner this year is a St. George local, and she was not the only Utahn to shine at this year’s competition in Las Vegas.
Marianne Hamilton has been involved in the Southern Utah community for more than 10 years, leaving her mark on several organizations, the Spectrum newspaper reported. Since moving here from Northern California in 2014, Marianne and her husband Doug have become heavily involved in the Huntsman World Senior Games. Marianne discovered her love of athletics through participating and being a race director over the years.
It was her involvement with the Huntsman World Senior Games that led to her competing in the Ms. Senior Universe/USA Pageant in 2019.
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"We were at nationals and this woman was greeting the athletes, and she was wearing a gown and her sash said Ms. Senior Utah, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ So I talked to her just real briefly," Hamilton said. "And then I ran into her again ... at another Senior Games event here. And we talked more, and she explained to me about senior pageantry and how it empowers women over 60 to still be out there and still give back to their community."
The Ms. Senior Universe 2022 Pageant winner was 69-year-old Marianne Hamilton of St. George, Utah. (James Kimsey/The Senior Pageants Group via AP)
After looking into the website and speaking with the pageant director, Hamilton decided to compete in 2019.
Hamilton was diagnosed with breast cancer during her time between the 2019 and 2020 pageants.
It was an experience unlike anything she had previously had, but Hamilton said there were similarities between the senior athletic competitions and the senior pageantry. Both competitions focus on accomplishments in older people.
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"I see very, very similar parallels between the Senior Games and being in the Senior Universe Pageant. And I think both are about a refusal to accept that age dictates boundaries," Hamilton said.
The Ms. Senior Universe Pageant focuses on competitors’ ability to show their accomplishments and how they portray themselves. There is no bathing suit competition. Instead, there are several days of questions and other ways for competitors to distinguish themselves.
One thing Hamilton excelled at was the writing portion of the competition. She is a journalist for St. George Health & Wellness Magazine and the St. George City Lifestyle Magazine.
"There was a lot of writing involved, which was kind of to my strengths, which was nice," Hamilton said. "You have to write several times; I had to write introductions for the judges to read. And you need to write out your philosophy of life and be able to recite that from memory within 30 seconds. There are a lot of photographs to gather and a lot of reflections about your life."
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With Hamilton turning 70 this year, the Ms. Senior Universe/USA Pageant was a way to start the year with a big bang. She said she planned to perform her duties as Ms. Senior Universe USA while continuing to write and race.
"It’s really thinking about the fact that whatever age you are, you deserve to be celebrated," Hamilton said. "And the more years you have on Earth, the more cumulative experience as you bring to the party."
Hamilton said that when she started she wasn’t expecting to get breast cancer in between competitions, but she learned from the experience.
The Ms. Senior Universe 2022 Pageant honors and celebrates the lives and accomplishments of women over the age of 60. (iStock)
"I’m here to tell you that it’s not a death sentence," she said. "And those kinds of things all go into making you a stronger person, and maybe able to help other people who are going through it."
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Hamilton was not the only St. George resident to compete. Jeanene Burton, a teacher in St. George for over 30 years, also was in the competition and won the "best gown" award. Shelley Sybil Gish, owner of the Healing Herb, foster mom of 53 kids over the years and first runner-up in the 2020 Ms. Senior Universe pageant, did not compete this year but traveled to Las Vegas to assist Burton, Hamilton and the other delegates.
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