By Sheila Rodgers
“I didn’t know what to do next. Forest (Miller) tried to hand me the trophy and I just stood there numb. Then it finally hit me that I really had won,” said Debbie Cervini as she described her reaction to being crowned Miss Texarkana College Nov. 21.
Debbie, a TC freshmen English major, talked at length about the week leading up to the pageant. “During rehearsals I would try to figure out who I thought would win. But all the girls seemed so good and so talented that I couldn’t decide.”
“I had some trouble during practice with my walking because I felt so terrible in a bathing suit. And I had trouble with my motions when I sang but Peggy (Peggy Stewart, Miss Texarkana) helped me with those. I kept thinking about who was gonna be out there watching me do those stupid motions.”
“The thing that really scared me were the questions. In practice I’d go blank whenever Cyndi (Pound) asked a question. Dean Hughes was the one who helped me with that.”
At the pageant when she was announced as one of the five finalists, Debbie said she breathed a little prayer to help her get through the questions.
Shirley Deloach, mistress of ceremonies for the pageant, asked Debbie what the most important thing in her scrapbook was and why. Debbie replied that her boyfriend’s baseball clippings meant the most to her.
After being crowned, Miss TC was taken backstage for pictures and congratulations. Probably most dear to her was what her boyfriend Bobby Liles said—”You did good, Chief!”