Joliet, Illinois
Lois Delander was born on Valentine's Day, and won the Miss America title at sixteen on her parents� twentieth anniversary. As a surprise, her father drove all the way to join his family only to arrive fifteen minutes before she was crowned. Lois had given herself so little a chance of winning that she had packed her bags for departure the night before the finals.
Soft-spoken and studious, Lois was a high school Junior while also attending the Chicago School of Industrial Art. She was a member of the glee club, a student of the piano and classical ballet, and had won both a musical memory contest and a medal for knowing Biblical verses. She excelled in Latin.
The daughter of a county clerk and his wife, Lois and her family were almost overcome by the media attention of her selection as Miss America. It was reported that theatrical concerns were willing to pay her $1,000 a week for stage appearances, but Lois worried about "catching up" in school, which had already started back home. Without ambitions for a film or stage career, Lois soon returned home to her studies.
She said she won a scepter, four trophies, a Bulova watch, an Oldsmobile, and a screen test, which she never took. She also had the privilege of meeting President Coolidge, Red Grange, Charles Lindbergh, Fred Waring, and Amelita Galli-Curci.
After college, she married stockbroker Ralph Lang and raised three daughters. "I've lived happily ever after," she said. Lois was the grandmother of seven and lived in a suburb of Chicago when she passed away in 1985 at age 74.
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