Dr. Barbara Mauldin, Ms. Senior America 2015

This year has been a rocket of excitement, travel, fun and personal growth. I never realized what doors a pageant could potentially open for me. I would have been amazed if I had been told at the age of 21 that I would enter and win this national pageant at the age of 61. I am humbled to have the honor of representing my pageant class of 2015. What an incredible experience!

I have met the most amazing people from Coast to Coast aged up to 104 who have so much vitality, vision, energy and desire to share and reveal their talents, kindness and love. Each person has shown me more about what it is to be of the Age of Elegance than I could have imagined at the beginning of this journey. I have met women who have successfully dealt with adversity of all sorts from death of loved ones to illness to dealing with personal abuse and tragedy.

These women have taught me what it is to survive and persevere with faith, hope, love and laughter. From these amazing individuals, I have gained a knowledge and appreciation of life in its fullest measure, a determination to live every day to the best of my ability, and a desire to finish strong with dignity and grace.

Thank you to all of my sisters of the past and future Ms Senior America pageants for your love and support. Thanks to Dr. Al Mott and Betsy Mott for the vision of the Age of Elegance. Thanks to Bonnie and Gladys Hughes, my Mississippi directors, for their untiring support and help. Thanks to Paula Lee for making me look good. Thanks to my Aunt Ruth McGovern for traveling with me to the pageants. Thanks to all of the state pageant directors who invited me to attend the pageants from FL to CA,. A special thanks to my husband and children who supported my vision of another reinvented me.

I believe in service above self and will continue to encourage other women over 60 to enrich their lives and the lives of others by being a part of the MS Senior America pageant.

Dr. Barbara B Mauldin
Ms Senior America 2015