Posted Thursday, March 22, 2007
There aren’t many people who can boast that they have been at the Miss America pageant without fail for the last forty years. Lois Elaine Smith-Zoll is one of those select few. In October 2006, she celebrated forty years of service with the Miss Washington program. Lois Elaine began her career in pageantry as a judge and hasn’t stopped since.
In 1966, Lois Elaine was asked to judge a local pageant in her home state of Washington. She (a professional singer) was a prime judge for that particular pageant— eleven out of the twelve contestants chose singing as their talent. Lois Elaine says that she knew right then she would be involved with pageants for a long time.
“I was intrigued,” she admits. “I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I grew up on a farm and I struggled. I saw pageants as an opportunity for the girls involved and I wanted to help give them those opportunities.”
Her dedication to the Miss Washington program has led her down many roads. She has acted as local executive director of what was the Miss Hazel Dell pageant and the Miss Clark County pageant. And while she enjoyed those experiences, she was “too busy to continue to do it.” Instead, she spearheads scholarship development efforts for the Miss Washington program. Forty years of service has honed her fundraising skills to a fine point, and she admits that no one ever says no to her. So far, Lois Elaine has single- handedly raised over $600,000 in in-kind scholarships and over $60,000 in cash scholarships for the Miss Washington program. These numbers are staggering but just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Lois Elaine’s contribution to the program.
In 2002, the local pageant in Lois Elaine’s hometown, the Miss Clark County pageant, faced extinction. The program fizzled out due to what she describes as “burn out.” That year, Miss Clark County did not grace the stage at the state pageant. After the state pageant, members of the community came to Lois Elaine and asked her to help revive the pageant. So she got on the phone.
“I’ve been in pageants for a long time and I know a lot of people,” Lois says. “I called everyone I knew that I thought could help. It must have been two hundred people.”
Her phone calls led to the creation of a task force. After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, Lois Elaine and her task force were able to revive the pageant and Miss Clark County was able to represent her community at the state pageant in 2003. Today, the area is growing so much that there are two local titleholders and a teen titleholder.
Most years, Lois Elaine and her husband Ed purchase the pageant wardrobe for Miss Clark County themselves. This extraordinary kindness is commonplace to Lois Elaine. “Sometimes the girls just don’t have anything. What can you do?” she says.
In addition to scholarship development, Lois Elaine is the unofficial media liaison for the program. She acts as a freelance journalist for The Columbian, her local newspaper. She covers everything from the local pageants all the way up to Miss America. In doing so, she has created a good working relationship with the local media and puts pageants in the news. “The Columbian has been marvelous to us, but it’s hands-on work. You’ve got to be hands on,” says Lois.
Her four decades of service to the Miss America Organization have all stemmed from one thing: scholarships. She feels it is so important to give girls the opportunity to go to college. That’s not to say she doesn’t enjoy the other components of pageantry. “I’m in awe of the whole thing,” says Lois.
Not surprisingly, after forty years of service, the Miss Washington program is in awe of Lois Elaine. Charlie Curry Vantramp, co-executive director of the Miss Washington program, considers Lois Elaine to be a legend.
“I was 19 and a local title holder in the Miss South Dakota Pageant when I first heard about a hilarious encounter that Barb Guthmiller, later Miss South Dakota 1974, had with the Vancouver Soprano Lois-Elaine Smith. She sounded larger than life! In 1999 I began volunteering here in Washington and heard someone mention the name Lois-Elaine and I thought, could this be the same Lois-Elaine that I heard about so many years ago? I asked for a description and was told that her trademarks were her colorful glasses, deeply tanned skin, and huge personality. Later when we met, I found she was all of those things and more! She loves to sing, is extremely patriotic, hard working, loyal to the brand of Miss America and a valued sponsor of the Miss Washington Scholarship Organization. She’s one in a million,” says Charlie.
When she isn’t saving pageants and raising money, Lois Elaine spends time with her husband, Ed. The couple splits their time between Washington and Arizona. Lois Elaine continues to sing at benefits, nursing homes, and hospitals. She will even sing Christmas music upon request. A self-proclaimed Norwegian Lutheran, she loves to cook traditional delicacies like lutefisk. She and Ed also enjoy making fudge—lots of it—and giving it to friends and family as holiday gifts. Their all-time record is 350 pounds of fudge in one season.
One thing is for certain: Lois Elaine knows how to keep busy and stay busy. When asked if she will retire from volunteering, she is firm in saying no. “I’m never tempted to retire, because I have too much to offer the pageant and The Columbian,” she says.