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PNB interview, take 2:

Kim Foley talks
to Patrick Nathaniel 
Bartholomew III

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FOLEY: Absolutely. I will always remember it. I was 20 years old. I entered the Miss Atlanta Scholarship Pageant, which was the first preliminary step towards Miss America. I had a friend at college who persuaded me to enter. She asked me if I had a talent, and I said, "Well, no, I don't sing and I don't dance." Then, she asked if I played an instrument. I told her that I played the flute. She said that the scholarship money was great, so I was intrigued.

My parents were putting my sister and me through school, and I thought we could use all the help we could get. I entered the pageant and didn't know a thing about Miss America other than [the theme song] "There She Is." I remembered that from watching it on television as a child. My mother and I acquired some program books, and we looked at pictures of gowns, because we didn't have resources and we didn't know where to get gowns. I actually wore a swimsuit of my mother's that we altered. Then, we looked at a gown on the cover of a Miss America program. We went to the fabric store and found fabric. We sewed the sequins on, and we made the dress.

I was the first runner-up in the pageant, and I won the interview and the swimsuit phases of competition. I was absolutely overwhelmed by that because there were all these seasoned pros [in the contest]. I was just having a ball with it and going through the motions. Two months into the reign, the winner decided to take a job out of state and relinquish her title, and so then the "infamous first runner-up" became the new Miss Atlanta.

That gave me the opportunity to compete in the Miss Georgia Pageant. I was incredibly fortunate at the state pageant, enough to come in first runner-up. That was my first taste and experience of true professional pageantry, and I earned enough scholarship money to pay for the last two years of school. That was a big bonus. From that standpoint, I cannot say enough good things about the Miss America program. It is a fantastic opportunity that helps a young woman get through school.

PNB: And your next pageant experience came fairly quickly? FOLEY: I came back the next year and finished as the fourth runner-up at Miss Georgia. It was a disappointment that I didn't do as well as I did the year before, but there was a tremendous amount of pressure on me because the expectations were so high since I was the returning first runner-up. Every contestant was on my heels, because they knew that I was the one to beat. From then on, I wasn't in any other pageant until I was married.

PNB: Tell us about your early experience in Mrs. pageants.

FOLEY: I had been married six years when I entered the Mrs. America system. I competed in Las Vegas at the Mrs. America Pageant and was the second runner-up. It was a fantastic experience. My most memorable moment from the Mrs. America Pageant was meeting Bill Cosby in his bathrobe smoking a cigar. We were on the top floor of the Hilton Hotel, and Bill Cosby owns the "Elvis Suite," where Elvis Presley stayed when he was entertaining in Las Vegas. He was up in the morning going through his usual routine, and he poked his head outside. He saw all the women waiting in line. He called Mrs. Arizona and and me over, and one of his assistants came over and got us. We went over into the suite to the foyer. He asked us whether we had enjoyed his show the previous night, and he told us about his wife. That was an experience I'll never forget.

About four years later, I entered the Mrs. International program. I was really impressed by the caliber of the women. There were so many women representing so many different professions. There were doctors, real estate agents, architects, engineers, housewives. Every profession was represented, and they were all working for so many worthwhile causes in their communities. The Mrs. International Pageant is held every year in Texas. I was first runner-up in that program, which was quite an honor. At that point, I had decided that was the end of pageant competition for me, although some people told me to "never say never." But I thought that there wasn't anything else [new] to do, so I thought I was done.

More talk with Kim Foley ...

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