First America's Junior Miss, Phyllis Ann Whitenack, dies at 70

MOBILE, Ala. -- Phyllis Ann Whitenack, the first America’s Junior Miss, died in Cary, N.C., on April 28. The 1958 crown winner, who maintained ties to Mobile and the competition now known as Distinguished Young Women, was 70 years old.
Whitenack’s daughter, Katherine Olive, described her mother, who worked for many years as a hospice nurse, as “compassionate and caring.”
“She had a great sense of humor,” she said, and “laughed a lot ... Her greatest joy in life was being a mother.”
Whitenack spoke with pride of her connection to America’s Junior Miss, Olive said. But she was “pretty modest” about having won, remembering above all the delight in receiving a scholarship.
Whitenack, a West Virginia native, went on to receive a nursing degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Olive said that her mother, most recently living in Arizona, had moved in with her in North Carolina, in the latter stages of suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Becky Jo Peterson, executive director of Distinguished Young Women, praised Whitenack and spoke of her “courageous battle” with ALS.
“She was an icon for our program and continued to support us throughout her life. I’m so thankful that she was able to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our program in 2007. We know she was proud to be in the Junior Miss sisterhood,” Peterson said.
Whitenack traveled to Mobile in 2007 for the 50th anniversary of the competition, originally known as Junior Miss America but soon changed to America’s Junior Miss.

In an interview with the Press-Register in 2007, Whitenack said that only 18 contestants entered the first year. Whitenack, who was representing West Virginia, won the fitness competition. Her talent, she said, was a dramatic monologue.
As America’s Junior Miss, her successors down through the years included many who went on to have notable career visibility, among them broadcast journalists Diane Sawyer (1963 winner) and Deborah Norville (Georgia’s 1976 Junior Miss), and actresses Mary Frann (1961 winner) and Debra Messing (Rhode Island’s 1986 Junior Miss).
In the 2007 interview, Whitenack said of America’s Junior Miss: “The girls aren’t working to fit some mold, they’re not going to cosmetic surgeons and killing themselves to get down to 104 pounds, not trying to portray an image of perfect beauty or any standard except for a standard of integrity and excellence.”
Whitenack is survived by her daughters Katharine Olive of Cary, N.C., and Anna Keiter of Butner, N.C.; a sister, Nancy Nicholson, of Cornelius, N.C.; and two grandsons.
A memorial service was set for 2 p.m. today in Raleigh, N.C., at the Hospice of Wake County Sanctuary, 250 Hospice Circle.
Donations may be made to the ALS Association, or to Hospice of Wake County. Online condolences can be offered at CremationSocietyNC.com, via the “Obituaries” link.