Pageant celebrating senior women returns to Tyler

Published 5:45 am Monday, September 27, 2021

After she was crowned Ms. Texas Senior Classic 2021 Queen, Wilma Burke was overcome with both shock and pride Saturday night. The words that immediately came to her mind were “awesome, wonderful and amazing.”

“This is my first pageant and a win — oh my goodness. It’s amazing,” Burke said.

Burke, of Redwater, came out on top in the 2021 Ms. Texas Senior Classic pageant, which celebrates women who are over 60 and have lived in Texas for at least six months.

After a cancellation in 2020 due to COVID-19, the annual contest celebrated its return at the Holiday Inn on South Broadway Avenue in Tyler.

Burke said this was her first time being part of the Ms. Texas Senior Classic pageant. She won a small local pageant in the Texarkana area, but she said this win was “totally unexpected.”

“(The pageant has) made me feel a whole better about myself,” Burke said. “The pageant is for 60 and over. Well, I’m over 60. It has really, really boosted my ego a lot. I can just say I’m proud of myself for something I wasn’t expecting.”

Participants were scored based on an interview with the judges, talent, their philosophy of life and modeling an evening gown.

Burke demonstrated her belly dancing abilities for the talent portion. Other talents included singing, dancing, rapping, motivational speaking, comedy and more.

Tyler resident and 2019 Ms. Texas Senior Classic Regina Money, who also served as the 2020 queen due to COVID-19, crowned Burke as this year’s queen.

Money told the crowd, contestants and organizers she “loved every minute” of serving as queen.

When she returns to the Texarkana area with her crown and sash, Burke plans to reach out to the chamber of commerce to get to know the local businesses.

Burke said she worked for the Christus St. Michael Health System in Texarkana for 13 years, but she hopes to learn more about the retail business community.

“I’d like to get to know them and talk to them to see if they would sponsor something to this magnitude for the senior ladies,” Burke said. “I love to be in parades and any kind of special openings, grand openings or anything like that they would let me participate in.”

She added she’s part of a group of ladies who are 50 and older and wear red hats called the T-Town Girls. She’s looking forward to sharing her pageant win with them and hopefully give some inspiration.

“I’m hoping and praying that when they see what I have done that they will think, ‘If she can do that, maybe I can too,’” Burke said. “That would be awesome for me to get some of those ladies interested in something like this. They can see if I can do this, then surely they can.”

Also on Saturday, Tyler resident Ruth Morrow was named first runner-up. She will have the job of fulfilling Burke’s queenly duties if Burke is unable to do so.

“It is unexpected and a thrill,” Morrow said of being runner-up. “I’m going to try to be what she needs and I’ll have to figure that out.”

Morrow has lived in Tyler for 28 years, and she’s glad to represent the city in the pageant.

She taught music for the students at area public schools and played in three area symphonies. She performed on her violin for her talent.

“My life is here and I’ve had a lot of students. I just feel so grateful that I can continue to represent Tyler,” Morrow said.

Morrow joined the Ms. Texas Senior Classic group three years ago. When Money won the pageant in 2019, Morrow said she was having spine surgery for a tumor. Then, the pandemic canceled the 2020 event as she was healing.

Following her surgery, Morrow has been “fighting and learning” to stand and walk again.

“(The pageant) has done so much for me. It has gotten me up off of the hospital bed,” Morrow said. “Working with the other ladies and focusing on developing a sense of confidence that I can do this, I can do this from a wheelchair.”

Other top finishers were second runner-up Vender Wright, of Sulphur Springs, third runner-up Melanie O’Quinn, of Woodsboro, and fourth runner-up Barbara Price, of Burleson.