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MARION - Those who knew Marilyn Meseke describe the former Miss America as someone whose exterior beauty was a reflection of her soul.
"Marilyn had the nicest personality, just as gentle as can be," said Evelyn Long, who lived next door to Meseke on Prospect Street in Marion. "She was just lovely."
Meseke was born Oct. 7, 1916, in Lima, but as an infant was adopted by her grandparents, Charlie and Clara Meseke, and grew up in Marion. Long said Meseke's grandmother enrolled her in dance, piano, violin and voice classes.
"Her grandmother was a really strict lady," said Long, who now resides in Cardington. "She had her going to bed early at night and was just very disciplined. I think that's what made Marilyn so successful."
Meseke burst onto the national stage in 1938 when she won both the Miss Ohio and Miss America crowns. An estimated crowd of 30,000 lined the streets of Marion for a parade to welcome her home from the pageant. She was twice crowned Miss Ohio, winning the first time in 1931 at age 14.
After many years in the local spotlight, Meseke and her husband Ben Rogers moved to Mount Dora, Florida, in 1977. She taught piano and collected antiques after relocating to Florida. Meseke died Sept. 12, 2001, at the age of 84. Friday would've marked her 100th birthday.
The Marion County Historical Society, 169 E. Church St., has a display dedicated to Meseke featuring photographs and her trophy from the Miss America pageant. Her robe is also housed at the society, but is no longer displayed because of its fragile condition.
Long and Meseke first met July 8, 1932, the day Long was born.
"Mother said Marilyn came over to see me and held me," Long said. "I started taking lessons from her when I was six."
The relationship between teacher and student blossomed into a friendship that lasted until Meseke's death, Long said.
"She sent me pictures from when she was Miss America and we always kept in touch," she said. "She'd write the nicest letters. She never changed after becoming Miss America. She was still the same sweet person."
Former Marion Star reporter Brenda Donegan wrote several stories about Meseke, including a feature about her 50th anniversary of winning the Miss America pageant.
"She was very humble, very sweet," Donegan said. "She was just one of those people that you like to see in the limelight, but yet she never let it go to her head. She was very charitable, very hospitable, very giving."
One of the beauty queen's longtime friends, Phyllis Bell Smith, was quoted in a story that Donegan wrote shortly after Meseke's death.
"She was really an elegant lady and just as beautiful the day she died," Smith said. "She was slim, trim and just as beautiful inside as she was outside. She brought a lot of notice and fame to Marion, Ohio."
According to the Miss America website, new rules were adopted for the 1938 pageant, which included making the talent competition a required portion of the competition — fortuitous for the dance teacher from Marion.
"Marilyn's dedication to the arts made her talent and commanding stage presence an easy choice for the 1938 Miss America title," read a note on the Miss America website.
More than 112 million moviegoers watched Meseke's 1938 crowning via newsreel footage, according to the Miss America website.
Meseke continued her involvement with the Miss America program for many years and participated in the organization's 75th anniversary ceremonies in 1995.
Meseke was married twice, first to Stanley Hume. The couple had one son. Following Hume's death, she married Rogers.
http://www.marionstar.com/story/news/local/2016/10/06/remembering-marions-miss-america/91616856/