Maria Fletcher

{{short description|Miss America 1962}} {{BLP one source|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox person |name = Maria Fletcher |image = Maria Beale Fletcher postcard front.jpg |image_size = |alt = |caption = Postcard of Fletcher as Miss America 1962 |birth_name = Maria Beale Fletcher |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|06|23}} |birth_place = Asheville, North Carolina, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |body_discovered = |death_cause = |resting_place = |resting_place_coordinates = |citizenship = |other_names = |known_for = |education = |alma_mater = Vanderbilt University |employer = |occupation = |years_active = |networth = |title = Miss Asheville 1961<br>Miss North Carolina 1961<br>Miss America 1962 |term = |predecessor = Nancy Fleming |successor = Jacquelyn Mayer |spouse = |partner = |children = 2 |parents = |website = |footnotes = }}

'''Maria Beale Fletcher''' (born June 23, 1942) is an American beauty pageant contestant who was Miss America 1962.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rob |last=Neufeld |title=Portrait of the past: Miss America parade |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2015/01/15/portrait-past-miss-america-parade/21810243/ |work=Citizen Times |date=January 15, 2015}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Fletcher was born to dancing duo Charles "Beale" and Margaret Gatley Fletcher, who were the founders of the Fletcher School of Dance and the Land of the Sky Civic Ballet. She has one brother, Walter, and two sisters, Margaret and Bonnie.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/oralhistory/VOA/D_H/Fletcher_B&P.html|title=Oral History Register for Beale Fletcher, 1914-1994 and Peggy Fletcher|publisher=University of North Carolina at Asheville |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080411000510/http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/oralhistory/VOA/D_H/Fletcher_B%26P.html |archivedate=2008-04-11}}</ref>

She is from Asheville, North Carolina, and was a graduate of A.C. Reynolds High School. She worked as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette prior to winning the Miss America crown.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1960/1962.asp |title=Miss America History 1962 |access-date=2006-12-31 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923035747/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1960/1962.asp |archivedate=2006-09-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After winning Miss America, Fletcher used her earned scholarship towards a degree in French from Vanderbilt University.<ref name="People people">{{cite web|first1=Michelle |last1=Tauber |first2=Mike |last2=Neill |first3=Lisa |last3=Russell |first4=Joanne|last4=Fowler |first5=Julie |last5=Dam |first6=Alex |last6=Tresniowski |first7=Samantha |last7=Miller |first8=Steve |last8=Dougherty |first9=Ting |last9=Yu |title= American Beauties: 80 Years |work= People |url=https://people.com/archive/american-beauties-80-years-vol-54-no-16/ |date=October 16, 2000}}</ref>

==Pageantry== She was the Miss America preliminary competition swimsuit winner, and her overseas tour included visits to 31 Army hospitals and Servicemen's Clubs. For the talent competition, she tap danced to a recording of herself singing “Somebody Loves Me.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2013/09/09/our-only-miss-america|title = Our First Miss America|publisher=NC DNCR blog|date=September 9, 2013}}</ref> She remains {{as of|2025|lc=y}} the only Miss North Carolina to be crowned Miss America.

==Career== During the late 1960s, Fletcher served as co-host of ''The Noon Show'' on Nashville, Tennessee, television station WSM.

== References == <references />

{{s-start}} {{s-ach}} {{succession box | before=Nancy Fleming | title=Miss America | years=1962 | after=Jacquelyn Mayer }} {{succession box | before=Ann Herring | title=Miss North Carolina | years=1961 | after=Susan Woodall }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Maria}} Category:Living people Category:Miss America winners Category:People from Asheville, North Carolina Category:1942 births Category:Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners Category:The Rockettes Category:American female dancers Category:20th-century American dancers Category:Miss North Carolina winners