Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992 TAG: 9203160132
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Today, Elliott will return to the stage with other former beauty queens when the high school holds its 50th Anniversary Pageant.
In those earlier pageants dating to 1942, selections were made not by a panel of judges but by a penny-a-vote by anyone. The person raising the most money was crowned queen, and the money was used for a good cause.
This year, participants in those earlier pageants will have a chance to parade across the stage again - between the rounds in this year's contest - and will attend a reception before the pageant.
"I'm still trying to think of something sassy to say to Jay Price," Elliott said of the pageant master of ceremonies and a BHS Class of '52 alumnus himself.
After almost 40 years of living with the title of Miss BHS, Elliott had some advice for this year's participants: "Don't let this go to your head."
But, she added, "There's something to be gained in participating in anything. The grace and poise you learn in this pageant will see you through in other situations, so there is something to be gained by participating."
For Elliott, the 50th anniversary is a chance to reflect back on high school days in the '50s in Blacksburg.
"Our class was the last one to graduate from the old Blacksburg High School," she said.
The old brick school building still stands near the corner of Roanoke and Otey streets surrounded by lawns that used to be playgrounds. Now, though, it is home to part of Virginia Tech's architecture department rather than to teen-age beauty queens, football heros and other high school types.
Her class was also the last to attend school only 11 years - the eighth grade was added the next year, she said.
Her class was small, and such a close-knit group got into lots of scrapes, she recalled.
The amount of trouble they could get into, however, was limited. Her father owned a grocery store close to the school, easily accessible to the teachers, and her good friend, Betty Jo Willard, had a brother who was a policeman on the Tech campus.
"We were always getting caught," she said, shaking her head.
Sports were a social event and her father was a devoted fan.
Elliott remembered her father making fresh apple cider for those who gathered at their home to decorate the homecoming float that would be in the parade.
Reliving those high school days, Elliott credited teachers and her dad for much of her values:
"I take a lot of what Virginia Hummel taught me every day. She taught me English and stamina," she said. Hummel still is active in town affairs.
Elliott ended up back in the Blacksburg school system herself a few years after college, teaching math for 32 years first at Blacksburg Elementary, then Margaret Beeks, finally at Blacksburg Middle.
Today, Elliott is a craftswoman who takes her distinctive baskets to shows in the East and Midwest.
OSome of Sue Dillon Elliott's contemporaries became well known; they're shown
Memo: CORRECTION