Memphis, Tennessee
Barbara, better known as Barbara Jo, was the last Miss America to be crowned in a swimsuit. She was also the last pageant contestant to represent just a city rather than an entire state (Miss Memphis). Barbara Jo represented a very wholesome image to America. She won the Miss Memphis pageant in 1947, while attending Memphis State College (The University of Memphis) and later that year won the National Pageant and became Miss America 1947. She pursued her degree and graduated from Memphis State in 1948. After graduating college she married John V. Hummel, MD. Barbara had a wonderfully varied career from numerous theater performances to being one of the first female daytime TV talk show hosts in the country. She also performed as a soloist at Second Presbyterian Church for thirty-six years. For five years she performed with fifteen to twenty past Miss Americas in Huntington, West Virginia to raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club of Huntington. They also included performances in Rockford, Illinois for the same cause. Throughout her life, Barbara remained active in the community. Barbara has served on the boards of Front Street Theater, the Memphis Broadband Telecommunications Board, as president of the Board of Opera Memphis and chaired the Citizens Committee to Investigate the Shelby County Justice Center. In March of 1997, she was the recipient of the University of Memphis' Alumni Association's Distinguished Achievement Award. Barbara and John have three children and five grandchildren. Barbara died in 2000
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