8th Annual Senior Ms. Lumbee Pageant set
The 8th annual Senior Ms. Lumbee Pageant set for June 27 at Robeson Community College
PEMBROKE – The 2016 Senior Ms. Lumbee Pageant will be held June 27 at the A.D. Lewis Auditorium at Robeson Community College in Lumberton. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the pageant starts at 6 p.m.
Admission is $10. Admission is only $5 for seniors ages 55 and older, and military members with valid identification. Children 5 and under will be admitted free.
There will be no advance ticket sales.
Bobby Deal Family will be the pre-show entertainers. Dylan Deal and “By Faith Alone” will also provide special entertainment throughout the show.
Lumbee Tribal employee Bobbi Jo Oxendine is the pageant director. She has overseen the pageant since 2010.
“I believe this will be one of the tribe’s best pageants ever. The talented group of contestants in this year’s event is probably the most competitive group I’ve worked with in the six years I’ve directed the pageant,” Oxendine said.
Angeleta Hunt of Fairmont is the reigning Senior Ms. Lumbee. She won the June 29, 2015 competition in a field of four other contestants, Mona Swett Canady, Betty Oxendine, Joan Blackwell and Betty Locklear.
Hunt said meeting people and interacting with others at various events during her reign have been most rewarding. Delivering meals to elders in the community and listening to their stories always intrigued her she said.
One particular event that stands out was the day she met James Moore and heard him reciting a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem word for word.
“That really left a lasting impression on me,” Hunt said. “I also remember one of our elderly women reading scriptures from the Bible. That touched me. The heritage we have and where we come from and where we have gone is remarkable. We have elders out there like them carrying it on. That interaction is what has really stuck with me.”
Mollie Jacobs won the first Senior Ms. Lumbee title in 2009. Her rendition of the song “We’re having the time of our lives” is one of the iconic moments of the pageant.
She went on to compete in the North Carolina Indian Senior Citizen Coalition pageant later that year. She passed her crown down to first runner-up Helen Campbell who served as Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Senior Ms. Lumbee for the remainder of the year.
Jacobs remains an ardent supporter of the pageant. She said she enjoyed her brief, but historic reign as the first Senior Ms. Lumbee.
“It gives the elders something productive to do,” Jacobs said. “We have a lot of things to share. We can teach the children things they are not taught at home. I think it’s wonderful.”
There are four Lumbee women vying for the Senior Ms. Lumbee crown. The 2016 pageant contestants are:
* Contestant No. 1 is Vista Grey Locklear of Maxton. Her talent is singing.
* Contestant No. 2 is Betty Jane Locklear of Pembroke. Her talent is singing.
* Contestant No. 3 is Joan Blackwell of Lumberton. Her talent is art demonstration.
* Contestant No. 4 is Wanda Locklear McCall of Spring Lake. Her talent is singing.
Contestants will compete in a talent and regalia competition, in addition to an on stage question and answer interview segment. The talent competition is normally the most popular portion of the Senior Miss Lumbee pageant.
Talent presentations are limited to four minutes.
Oxendine said contestants’ scores would not be available until after the pageant. She said contestants who want to see their scores would need to make an appointment with her.
“No one will be allowed to pick up a participant’s score sheets from the office or view the scores on their behalf,” Oxendine said. “This is a confidentiality issue that we must to adhere to.”
For more information please contact Bobbi Jo Oxendine at 910-522-2196 or visit the Lumbee Tribe’s website at lumbeetribe.com on the web.
Sr. Miss Lumbee winners since 2009
* 2009 Mollie Jacobs, Helen Campbell
2010 Eva Oxendine
2011 Linda Lowery
2012 Eleanor Chavis
2013 Mable Moses
2014 Joyce McMillian
2015 Angeleta Hunt
* Mollie Jacobs went on to compete in the North Carolina Indian Senior Citizen Coalition pageant later that year. She passed her crown down to first runner up Helen Campbell who served as Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Senior Ms. Lumbee for the remainder of the year.
