12 Facts About Jo-Carroll Dennison

Jo-Carroll Dennison was an American actress and model who was Miss America 1942.

Jo-Carroll Dennison was born in the infirmary of a men's state prison in Arizona, delivered by the prison doctor as he was the only medical help her traveling parents could find.

Jo-Carroll Dennison's father had wanted her to be born in California so the couple had been driving west from Texas when her mother went into labour.

Jo-Carroll Dennison graduated from Hale Center High School in 1940, and was a stenographer in Tyler for Governor Earl B Mayfield.

Jo-Carroll Dennison was crowned Miss America September 12,1942, after having entered the contest as Miss Texas.

Jo-Carroll Dennison had earlier won both the talent and the swimsuit competitions in the contest.

Jo-Carroll Dennison was one of the first Miss Americas to refuse wearing a bathing suit during the year-long tour required of winners.

Jo-Carroll Dennison watched friends and colleagues persecuted under McCarthy's Red Scare and witnessed the ravages of blacklisting throughout her cultural world.

Jo-Carroll Dennison lived in Greenwich Village in the 1950s, working briefly with Look magazine and then as a secretary at the offices of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Jo-Carroll Dennison lived for two years in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, working on her memoir, which was published in 2021.

Jo-Carroll Dennison later married television producer Russell Stoneham and had two sons, Peter and John, with him.

Jo-Carroll Dennison was the oldest-living Miss America when she died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on October 18,2021 at the age of 97.