Beauty pageants may not carry the status once held, however it's still notable that Belcher High graduate and Louisiana Tech student Gail Gleason (Oliver Willson) (1935-2004) was selected Miss Louisiana in 1954, having earlier been named Miss Louisiana Tech. She was the daughter of Austin W. Gleason, Jr. and wife Amy, a long-time Belcher and later North Caddo High School English teacher.
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| Gail Gleason as an 8th Grader at Belcher High School - 1948-49 |
Gail is shown below with other contestants at the Miss Louisiana pageant, where she represented Louisiana Tech. She's to the right of the young lady seated at the piano and to the right of her is Miss Vivian, Bettye Idom.
Shreveport Times 05-Jul-1954, Page 2-A
With her honor, Gail traveled to Atlantic City, NJ to compete in the Miss America Pageant.
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| Baton Rouge Morning Advocate 06-Jul-1954, Page 1 |
Miss Louisiana, Gail Gleason.
Here she's shown in Atlantic City with other Miss America contestants from southern states.
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| Evansville (IN) Courier and Press 08-Sep-1954, Page 13 |
But alas, Bert Parks sang for another, as the winner that year was Lee Meriwether of California, later of Catwoman and Barnaby Jones fame. Though Gail didn't win any awards, the townspeople of Belcher turned out to welcome her home.
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| Ruston Daily Leader 14-Sep-1954, Page 1 |
Here Gail (second from right) appears along with Miss Arkansas, Sarah Grace Martin, at festivities leading up to the LSU-Arkansas football game, played in Shreveport that year.
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| Baton Rouge State Times 23-Nov-1954 , Page 8-B |
The following year she married James Oliver, a co-captain of the Tech football team. Her obituary describes her as having had a full, successful life.
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