Misplaced Pages

Marilyn Van Derbur
Van Derbur in 1981
Born	Marilyn Elaine Van Derbur (1937-06-16) June 16, 1937 (age 87) Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Colorado at Boulder
Title	Miss University of Colorado 1957 Miss Colorado 1957 Miss America 1958
Term	September 7, 1957 - September 6, 1958
Predecessor	Marian McKnight
Successor	Mary Ann Mobley
Spouses	Gary Nady ​ ​(m. 1961; div. 1962)​ Lawrence Atler ​(m. 1964)​
Children	1

Marilyn Elaine Van Derbur (born June 16, 1937) is an American author, motivational speaker, and beauty pageant titleholder.

In July 1957, she was crowned Miss Colorado 1957. On September 7, 1957, she was crowned Miss America 1958 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by the outgoing Miss America 1957, Marian McKnight.

Biography

Early life and education

Marilyn Van Derbur was born on June 16, 1937, in Denver, Colorado., the youngest of four daughters to a family in the Denver mortuary business. (The lighted cross on Mount Lindo southwest of Denver was built so Van Derbur's grandmother could see her husband's final resting place from her home in Park Hill.) She attended East High School, graduating in 1955, and the University of Colorado, where she earned a degree in English literature with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1960.

Pageantry

During her sophomore year of college, Van Derbur was nominated to represent Pi Beta Phi in the Miss University of Colorado pageant. After being crowned Miss University of Colorado in May 1957, she competed in and was crowned Miss Colorado in July 1957. On September 7, 1957, she was crowned Miss America 1958 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Career

After graduation, she moved to New York City where she was the television spokeswoman for AT&T's The Bell Telephone Hour and hosted 10 episodes of Candid Camera. She was the television hostess for the Miss America Pageant for five years.

Van Derbur worked as a public speaker throughout her career. She established the Marilyn Van Derbur Motivational Institute in 1975, where she produced a series of 30-minute motivational films shown at business meetings and conventions.

When Van Derbur was 53, she revealed that she had experienced child incestuous abuse from age 5 to 18, perpetrated by her father. Her story was featured on the cover of People magazine in June 1991. She and her husband provided initial funding for an adult incest survivor program at The Kempe Center, and she founded the Survivors United Network.

Marriage and children

Following a brief marriage in 1961 to former University of Colorado football player Gary Nady, Van Derbur married her high school boyfriend Lawrence "Larry" Atler in 1964. The couple has a daughter, Jennifer.

Legacy

In 2021, Van Derbur announced she would be auctioning her Miss America crown and bracelet to benefit Denver Public Schools.

Published works

• Miss America By Day (Oak Hill Ridge Press, 2003)

Recognition

• 1955: Seventeen's Miss Young America
• 1957: Miss Colorado
• 1958: Miss America
• 1996: inductee, Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
• 2019: inductee, Colorado Authors Hall of Fame

References

1. ^ Marling, Karal Ann (2004). Debutante: Rites and Regalia of American Debdom. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 146. ISBN 978-0700613175. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
2. ^ "Nation's Fairest Compete For Role Of Miss America". Rock Hill Herald. August 30, 1958. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
3. ^ Jeanne Varnell; M. L. Hanson (1999). Women of consequence: Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Books. pp. 246–52. ISBN 9781555662141. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
4. Jones, Rebecca (March 2, 1997). "Mount Lindo Bears Its Cross". Rocky Mountain News. p. 27D. Olinger later sold the mountain to his son-in-law, Francis S. Van Derbur, father of former Miss America . . . Marilyn Van Derbur Atler. The story goes that Francis S. was walking around the mountain one day with his father, Francis C. Van Derbur, who mentioned he'd like to be entombed up there, with a cross to mark the spot. . . After the senior Van Derbur died, he was entombed there. His son ordered construction of a cross that would be visible to his mother from her Park Hill home.
5. "Marilyn Van Derbur Chosen Good Citizen". Colorado Transcript. March 3, 1955. p. 5. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
6. Taylor, Carol (August 15, 2009). "Taylor: CU's Miss America reigned in 1958". Daily Camera.
7. Holthouse, David (June 24, 2004). "Crowning Achievement". Westword. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
8. Coates, James (May 10, 1991). "'58 Miss America Tells Horror of Incestuous Father". Chicago Tribune.
9. Tauber, Michelle; Neill, Mike; Russell, Lisa; Fowler, Joanne; Dam, Julie; Tresniowski, Alex; Miller, Samantha; Dougherty, Steve; Yu, Ting (October 16, 2000). "American Beauties: 80 Years". People.
10. "The Darkest Secret". People magazine. June 10, 1991. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
11. Trish Kinney (March 18, 2010). "Standing with Miss America 1958". Huffington Post (Blog). Retrieved January 19, 2018.
12. "Marilyn Married in Mountain Retreat". Rocky Mountain News. February 15, 1964. Miss America of 1958, Marilyn Van Derbur -- now Mrs. Lawrence Atler -- and her smiling bridegroom pose before a picture window framing a Colorado winter wonderland after a snowy Valentine's Day wedding in the Indian Hills summer home of the bride's parents....
13. Page, Sydney (October 22, 2021). "She was Miss America in 1958. Now she's auctioning her treasured crown to benefit teachers". Washington Post.
14. "Marilyn Van Derbur Seventeen Magazine 1955". Seventeen Magazine 1955.
15. "Marilyn Van Derbur Atler". Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.
16. "OH WHAT A NIGHT!". coloradoauthorshalloffame.org. Retrieved 2023-03-18.

External links

• Official website

• University of Colorado alumni
• Miss America 1950s delegates
• Miss America winners
• People from Denver
• Living people
• 1937 births
• American motivational speakers
• American women motivational speakers
• American motivational writers
• Women motivational writers
• American people of Dutch descent
• East High School (Denver, Colorado) alumni