Venus Ramey

Venus Ramey
Venus Ramey in 2007
Born	(1924-09-26) 26 September 1924 Ashland, Kentucky
Occupation	Tobacco farmer, activist
Title	Miss America in 1944
Predecessor	Jean Bartel
Successor	Bess Myerson
Children	2 sons

Venus Ramey (born September 26, 1924 in Ashland, Kentucky^[1]) left Kentucky to work for the war effort in Washington, DC, and won the Miss District of Columbia pageant and then became Miss America in 1944. She was the first red-haired contestant to win the title.^[2]

Campaigner

She became the first Miss America to run for public office, seeking a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives.^[2]

She was wooed by Hollywood in 1947, but dissatisfied with show business, she returned home to her Eubank, Kentucky, tobacco farm (which she has maintained for over 50 years) in Lincoln County, Kentucky. She married and raised two sons.^[2]

In the 1970s, Ramey successfully campaigned to save Over-the-Rhine, a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. The neighborhood was eventually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and her work led her to make an unsuccessful bid for a spot on the Cincinnati City Council.^[2]

In April 2007, when she was 82, Ramey confronted intruders who had entered a storage building on her farm where thieves had previously stolen equipment. She used a snub-nose .38 revolver to shoot out the tires on their pickup truck, then flagged down a car and had the driver call 911, holding the would-be thieves until the sheriff arrived. "I didn't even think twice. I just went and did it", she said. "If they'd even dared come close to me, they'd be six feet under by now."^[3]

Tribute

In 1944, a B-17 of the 15th Air Force, 301st bomb group was named the Venus Ramey. This plane is reputed to be one of the longest-lived B-17s of the war, having flown over 150 missions and survived the war. It was later scrapped.^[4]

There was also a B-24 Liberator bomber (42-52312) in the 454th bomb group named MISS AMERICA '44 which flew 133 missions. ^[5]

References

↑ "Johnson County History... and That's a Fact". Retrieved 2007-04-20.
1 2 3 4 "Miss America History 1944". Archived from the original on 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
↑ "Armed Miss America 1944 stops intruder". April 20, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
↑ Excerpt from National Review, freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com, May 14, 2007.
↑ B-24 Best Web http://www.b24bestweb.com/Pics-M-MISS_AA-MISS_AZ.htm

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jean Bartel	Miss America 1944	Succeeded by Bess Myerson
Preceded by Dixie Lou Rafter	Miss Washington, D.C. 1944	Succeeded by Dorothy Powell

Miss America titleholders (1940–1959)

District of Columbia pageant winners

Miss District of Columbia	Margaret Gorman (1921) Venus Ramey (1944) Mary Hayes (1949) Sarah-Elizabeth Langford (2002) Shannon Schambeau (2005) Kate Michael (2006) Jen Corey (2009) Stephanie Williams (2010) Allyn Rose (2012) Bindhu Pamarthi (2013) Haely Jardas (2015)

Miss District of Columbia USA	Michele Metrinko (1963) Bobbi Johnson (1964) Dianna Lynn Batts (1965) Susan Pluskoski (1971) Angela McGlowan (1994) Shauntay Hinton (2002) Sarah-Elizabeth Langford (2005) Candace Allen (2006) Mercedes Lindsay (2007) Deshauna Barber (2016)

Miss District of Columbia Teen USA	Suzi Simpson (1984)

Miss America

1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Titleholders Award winners Outstanding Teen MAOT State pageants

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