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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2015)
8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2015 Phillips: Program has ‘changed so many young ladies’ lives’ Continued from Page 1A But Phillips’ enthusiasm for the program — which has provided ap- proximately $2 million in scholar- ships to young women over the past 15 years — runs deep, and she plans to reroute her focus to the Oregon Scholarship Foundation in an effort to increase the monetary awards giv- en to contestants. What Phillips is taking with her is a sense of pride in having led a pro- JUDPWKDWJLYHV\RXQJZRPHQFRQ¿- dence, support and, often, a chance to achieve the improbable. “This program means a great deal to me,” Phillips said. “It’s changed so many young ladies’ lives, and it isn’t just because a crown goes on their head. It’s all the young ladies that have gone through and have had the opportunity to go to colleges that they wouldn’t have because of scholarship opportunities. We’re not asking any- thing other than for them to believe in themselves and set goals and try to achieve those goals. And we open the door and allow them to walk down that road. It’s so rewarding for all of us.” A change of heart Although her parents both were involved in the program — her mom was chaperone to Miss Oregon 1959 and her dad ran the Miss Portland pageant — Phillips was a theater ma- jor at Portland State University and very anti-pageant — that is, until one of her friends became Miss Oregon, and it sucked her in, she said. In the early 1970s, Phillips start- ed working on the Miss Portland pageant, which is a preliminary to the Miss Oregon pageant. When she moved to Seaside in 1979, her hus- band, Steve, was running the Miss Oregon Scholarship Program as a co-executive director. Seven years later, it was Phillips. “I always laughingly say I didn’t like the way he was running it, so I took over,” she joked. Around the time of transition, the Phillips and a few others had recog- nized the program needed to grow in terms of the scholarship dollars dis- tributed, and they knew the way to GRWKDWZDVE\VHWWLQJXSDQRQSUR¿W foundation with a separate board of directors. The Oregon Scholarship Foundation now handles the scholar- ship money for Miss Oregon, as well as the memorial scholarships the Phil- lips set up in the name of their daugh- ter, Tiffany. During the pageant, contestants can win about $60,000 in Miss Ore- gon scholarships and special awards, and about $350,000 of in-kind schol- arships to various schools in and out of state. Young men and women who help with operation and production also can receive scholarship awards. Phillips said she believes, howev- er, the program could do better, espe- cially at the teen level. She wants to see the prize for Miss Oregon to dou- ble to $20,000 and the prize for Miss Oregon’s Outstanding Teen to double to $6,000. When she joins the foun- dation, she plans to write grants and ¿QGRWKHUZD\VWRPDNHWKDWSRVVLEOH What has been accomplished, though, has been life-changing for some contestants, who have gone on to work in politics, engineering, economics, education and numerous RWKHU¿HOGV “When I look back to 44 years of involvement in this organization, as a about $50,000 to set up a memorial fund in Tiffany’s name. The family received a great deal of support from the Miss America organization, other LQGLYLGXDOV DI¿OLDWHG ZLWK WKH SUR- gram and the Seaside community, Phillips said. Tiffany — a 6-foot-4-inch star ath- lete — was never a contestant herself, but she liked the behind-the-scenes aspect and was close to the Miss Ore- gon winners who would stay with the family. “She was one of those young la- dies who was always willing to help others and believed in making sure people understood that you can pick up your own bootstraps and you do whatever you want to do,” she said. Tiffany “was a miracle child,” and A pageant family though she was unexpected, Phillips :KHQ UHÀHFWLQJ RQ ZKLFK DVSHFW said, “we were so blessed to have had of the program she takes the most her, but too short.” Her spirit remains, pride in, Phillips said it would have to however. “She’s my guardian angel,” EHWKDWWKH¿UVW0LVV2UHJRQ-R$QQ Phillips said. Amorde, is still involved, although Having Tiffany also gave Phillips now at a local level as she progresses a deeper understanding and ability to in age. form relationships with the Miss Ore- “We have so many of our past gon winners. Growing up, she didn’t contestants, past Miss Oregons, past babysit and she didn’t like being Miss Oregon families, past contestant around children. families still being involved in the “Then Tiffany came into my life,” pageant,” Phillips said. “We call our- she said. “It just gives you an insight, selves a pageant family and we really to have a little person that you made are.” and that you can sit there and enjoy That became evident in a person- and mentor. It gives you an insight al way when the Phillips lost Tiffany that I wouldn’t have had without that. in a car accident in 1998 shortly after I didn’t really have the true heart of it she turned 17. Phillips was supposed until I had my own child. And I think WR À\ WR D 1DWLRQDO $VVRFLDWLRQ RI that’s one of the reasons Steve and I Miss America State Pageants meet- have stayed so involved is because of ing in New York when the accident the heartache so many of these young occurred. She didn’t attend the work- people go through in life because they shop, but when her counterparts heard don’t have or come from loving fam- what happened, “the phone calls kept ilies. And there isn’t anybody to be coming in,” she said. They also raised supportive and there isn’t anybody to volunteer, we put money into it. We don’t receive a penny for what we do,” she added. The only paid people are from the production group that handles light- ing and sound; their payment comes from ticket sales and fundraising, not entry fees or other sources designat- ed for the scholarship fund. Everyone else volunteers. “Nobody can understand how sup- portive this community is to the Miss Oregon Scholarship Program and has been since it started in 1947,” Phillips said. People donate time, meals, rooms and funds. “It’s mind-boggling,” she said. “And it’s really heartfelt enthu- siasm they have for this program.” lift them up and say, ‘you can achieve whatever you want to achieve.’” From not being particularly fond of children, Phillips now has been “accumulating daughters in a special way by being involved in this organi- zation” for several decades. “These young ladies are the leg- acy that we’ve helped build in this program,” she said. “Our daughters — our Miss Oregons — are very spe- cial.” Moving on Phillips has enjoyed her 44-year tenure with the program, but “it’s time to turn it over and let new blood come in with their new ideas and move forward,” she said. She’s content with the work she has done. She’s been an advocate for fostering equality, openness and anti-discrimination within the pro- gram — at one point, a woman could not compete if she had an abortion. Phillips quickly dismissed a sponsor when one of its representatives made derogatory remarks about a black woman being crowned Miss Oregon. In addition to helping with the foundation, she will continue on as chairwoman of the Miss America State Trade Show, which supports the Tiffany Phillips Memorial Schol- ar-Athlete Award, open to any contes- tant in the United States. When Phillips retires, three former Miss Oregon winners will take over. April Robinson and Nichole (Mead) Lahner will handle the Miss Oregon component and Stephenie (Steers) West will focus on Miss Oregon’s Outstanding Teen. “I feel really good about it, be- cause they understand the heart of the program,” Phillips said. Meade: ‘I always love to come back here. I love this area’ Continued from Page 1A Since then, Meade’s career has taken her to stages around the world. “An airplane is really my home. It’s where I am more than anywhere,” she jokes. *UDQG¿QDOH This weekend, Meade will take a break from her globe-trot- ting lifestyle to make her fourth appearance at the Astoria Music Festival. She will perform in the JUDQG¿QDOHRSHUD6XQGD\DVWKH title role of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots in Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda.” For those unfamiliar with opera or Meade’s talent, Astoria Music Festival artistic director Keith Clark compares her to a young Tiger Woods, the accom- plished professional golfer. “She is at the top of her game,” Clark said. “She is one of the stellar sopranos of her generation singing all over the world. Her career has just sky- rocketed to the point where she has been wonderful in making time available to come to Asto- ria, when she could be singing anywhere in the world.” Meade said she looks for- ward to her annual return to the Northwest. In August, she is performing at Opera in the Park during Portland Summer- fest. While in Astoria, she plans to see her best friend who lives in Portland and her father, Rod JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Angela Meade, right, and Aaron Blake, left, rehearse with the Astoria Music Festival Orchestra at the Masonic Lodge Thursday. Meade, who lives in Centralia and works as a research forester for Weyerhaeuser. “I always love to come back here. I love this area,” Meade said. “I would live here full time if I could. It’s so relaxing and peaceful and people are so friendly. Doing what we do, it’s not feasible to live here at the moment, which is kind of sad.” After her performance Sun- day, Meade and her father will roadtrip down to Santa Fe, N.M., where her husband, John Matthew Myers, a professional tenor, is performing. Meade has hardly seen her husband since they married last month. The couple met in 2010 while per- forming at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. Musical family Music has always been a part of Meade’s family. Her father played the steel guitar and her mother, Deborah Meade, grew up singing in a trio of girls that toured churches. “She always wanted to be a professional singer, but her par- ents didn’t really think it was the good, religious, Christian thing to do,” Meade said of her mother. “She would always live vicari- ously through me.” Meade’s mother died of breast cancer in July 2012. ³,W ZDV WKH PRVW GLI¿FXOW thing I’ve ever been through, especially since I had a gig right after it,” Meade said. “I wanted in the worst way to stay home and grieve.” Before her death, Debo- rah Meade was able to see her daughter’s career launch at the High Court legalizes gay marriage nationwide By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court declared Fri- day that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States, a historic culmination of decades of liti- gation over gay marriage and gay rights generally. Gay and lesbian couples al- ready could marry in 36 states — including Oregon — and the District of Columbia. The court’s 5-4 ruling means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage. Gay rights supporters cheered, danced and wept out- side the court after the deci- sion, which put an exclamation point on breathtaking changes in the nation’s social norms. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court’s pre- vious three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996. It came on the anniversary of two of those earlier decisions. “No union is more pro- found than marriage,” Kenne- dy wrote, joined by the court’s four more liberal justices. The stories of the people asking for the right to marry “reveal that they seek not to denigrate marriage but rath- er to live their lives, or honor their spouses’ memory, joined by its bond,” Kennedy said. As he read his opinion, spectators in the courtroom wiped away tears after the im- port of the decision became clear. One of those in the au- dience was James Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Su- SUHPH&RXUW¿JKW Outside, Obergefell held up a photo of his late spouse, John, and said the ruling estab- lishes that “our love is equal.” He added, “This is for you, John.” President Barack Obama placed a congratulatory phone call to Obergefell, which he took amid a throng of reporters outside the courthouse. Speaking a few minutes lat- er at the White House, Obama praised the decision as “justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.” +H VDLG LW ZDV DQ DI¿UPDWLRQ of the principle that “all Amer- icans are created equal.” The four dissenting justices HDFK ¿OHG D VHSDUDWH RSLQLRQ explaining his views, but they all agreed that states and their voters should have been left with the power to decide who can marry. “This court is not a leg- islature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in dissent. Roberts read a sum- mary of his dissent from the EHQFK WKH ¿UVW WLPH KH KDV done so in nearly 10 years as chief justice. “If you are among the many Americans of whatever sexual orientation who favor expand- ing same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s deci- sion,” Roberts said. “But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.” Justice Antonin Scalia said he was not concerned so much about same-sex marriage but about “this court’s threat to American democracy.” Jus- tices Samuel Alito and Clar- ence Thomas also dissented. President Barack Obama welcomed the decision via Twitter, calling it “a big step in our march toward equali- ty.” The ruling will not take effect immediately because the court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. But some state officials and county clerks might decide there is little risk in issuing marriage licenses to same- sex couples. Met and watch her daughter become a mainstay in the opera community. “It was really hard for me. I sing a lot of characters that kill themselves or are dying of something,” Meade said. “For a year afterward, I would be doing these death scenes and burst out in tears in the middle of rehears- al.” Two months after her moth- er’s death, Meade recalls doing a production where she had to SUD\RYHUDFRI¿Q6KHFRXOGQRW handle the scene. The conductor came over and asked if she was OK. “People thought I was crazy for a while,” she said. “I would burst into tears and walk off stage.” In some ways, working through her grief become thera- peutic. As time passed, Meade’s career continued to grow. She performs between 35 to 50 per- formances a year. It all started while she took voice lessons at Centralia Col- lege and realized opera was what she wanted to do. Meade said she became obsessed and listened to opera CDs, watched live per- formances and read about opera stars in books. Soon those pro- fessionals became her colleagues and friends. Last fall, Meade graced the cover of “Opera News,” the go- to magazine of the opera world. As accolades pile up, Meade said, she never forgets her North- west roots. In those moments before a large performance, Meade thinks back to her start in Centralia and Tacoma and performances in Astoria. She knows she is doing what she loves and has made her mother and father proud. “Eight years in, it’s still surre- al,” Meade said. “I hope it always remains surreal.” Columbia Memorial Hospital FREE CAR WASH to support Relay for Life June 27 Warrenton Kia 801 Marlin Ave Warrenton, OR Join us for a free BBQ and car wash to support Relay for Life! Warrenton Kia will donate $10 for every car Team CMH washes. All proceeds will go to Relay for Life. Please join us! 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