Pageant News Bureau - One-of-a-kind queens

Kelly McMorrow is a tall queen by definition. She's Miss Tall Boston 2004, preparing to compete for the title of Miss Tall International. The group that runs the pageant system, Tall Clubs International, requires that female members be at least 5 feet 10 inches tall. She's 5 feet 11.

Fiona Page is a blind queen, but not by definition. She won her crown, in fact, because she refused to be defined by her blindness. She's Ms. Senior Georgia 2004, comparing to compete at Ms. Senior America.

Tall Clubs International is a fun organization with a sense of humor. (The Boston chapter is called the Beanstalks.) Ms. McMorrow represents that spirit as well as anyone we can think of -- she's part old-fashioned girl, part free spirit. At age 38, she's trying pageants for the first time. She told us that she might be willing to try marriage for the first time, too, if she finds a man who shares her values and wants to settle down. But she's a Miss until her reign is over.

A few years ago, Ms. McMorrow moved to Hollywood to get a look at show business. Not to be in it, just to get a look at it. "I wanted to meet a soap opera star and a rock band," she says. She worked in a store until she did both, and then she went home. She never wanted fame.

Kelly McMorrow, Miss Tall Boston 2004

Ms. Page has an extraordinary story, in more ways than one. Her mother was the first woman ever to walk on artificial legs. Ms. Page was an award-winning storyteller before losing her sight. Now she may be the best-known blind storyteller since Homer. (Remember that guy?)

Her talent at the pageant was a creative monologue called “Life on a Blind Date." During the portion of the pageant when the Top 10 finalists drew questions from a fishbowl, she promised not to "peek," and of course she didn't.

Sometimes there's a sameness in pageant women, but Kelly McMorrow and Fiona Page don't fit anyone's mold. And we happen to like them.