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!
CMH is a Corporate Sponsor
&YDIBOHF4U"TUPSJB0SFHPOt
XXXDPMVNCJBNFNPSJBMPSHt"1MBOFUSFF%FTJHOBUFE)PTQJUBM
