The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Taylor to compete for national title
By Jessy Patterson, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: January 31, 2008
It was just by chance that Amy Taylor logged on to the Mrs. Michigan America pageant Web site, a bit of bravery as she completed the application and utter shock when she received a call telling her she was the new Mrs. Washtenaw County contestant.
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Then a mixture of feelings set in as she realized she would be competing in the national pageant.
Still honoring the traditions of the typical beauty pageant with evening gown and swimsuit categories, the Mrs. Michigan America and Mrs. America pageants also promote the "versatility of the contemporary American married woman," says the pageant's executive director, Jody Bernhardt.
This year, the Mrs. Michigan America pageant, a statewide competition, will take place March 29 in Grand Rapids and will feature Taylor, who lives in Saline.
Taylor said she is both excited and nervous to be competing in the pageant. After all, when she and her husband moved to Saline from the Kalamazoo area in September, she wasn't looking for the limelight.
New to the area, the stay-at-home mom and Mary Kay consultant was looking at the time for a local Mary Kay director when she came across Bernhardt's name and Web site. Through her search, she discovered that Bernhardt wasn't only a Mary Kay sales director, but also the Mrs. Michigan America executive director.
Taylor viewed the Mrs. Michigan America Web site with interest and felt a powerful pull toward the competition, which she thought would give her an opportunity to hone her public speaking skills.
"There comes a time in every woman's life when she just needs to do something for herself," she said.
Taylor thought the competition would offer her an opportunity to share her story about her mother's death from cancer, and provide her a public forum to address the topics of cancer and grief.
From ages 7 through 17, Taylor watched her mother battle cancer, ultimately losing the battle a week before Taylor entered college. She experienced the grief in a rush of depression several years later and it wasn't until she began to recover from the depression that she realized how the burden of caring for her sick mother and then her mother's death had effected her youth.
Taylor said she has gained a great deal through the heartache, grief and her own personal discoveries and she wants to share that with teens who may be dealing with the loss of a parent or a parent diagnosed with cancer.
Taylor completed the application process to become a county delegate, and was notified in early November that she had been chosen to represent Washtenaw County in the Mrs. Michigan America pageant.
As she prepares for the contest in March, she continues to work toward her goals of public speaking and reaching out to grieving families. In February, she will be a grief support facilitator as part of an eight-week grief support series offered through Keystone Community Church.
To learn more about the Mrs. Michigan America pageant, visit the Web site www.mrsmichiganamerica.com.
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