The "Lancaster's Very Own Miss America" Story

Miss Evelyn Margaret Ay, Miss America 1954.

It was an ordinary day.  Date was sometime in September of 1953 when a resident of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, a small town 24 miles north-east of Lancaster won the title of Miss America.  Yep, Miss America!  How many places in the United States can lay claim to having a Miss America?  Not many.  Woman's name was Evelyn Margaret Ay who was born March 8, 1933 to German immigrants.  She began her rise to the crown of Miss America by first winning Miss Ephrata Fair and Tobacco Queen of Lancaster County in 1950.  Her crown was a circlet that looked like tobacco leaves.  After graduating from Ephrata High School in 1950 she won the titles of Miss Pennsylvania AMVET and the Miss National AMVET in 1952.  

Miss America sits in the Nash Metropolitan at the
Chicago Auto Show in 1954.

Next came the Miss Pennsylvania title in 1953 which qualified her for the Miss America Pageant.  She won the title in the last year before the pageant began to be televised.  During her reign she traveled 270,000 miles and had the chance to visit the 1954 Chicago Auto Show and introduce the Nash Metropolitan automobile which allegedly was the first American car marketed specifically to women.  She did remain active with the pageant for many years afterward helping judge local pageants and the national contest in 1981.  

Mr. and Mrs. Carl G. Sempier

She was asked to help market many products over the next forty years, but American Motors, who produced the Nash, was the most generous with their support of the Miss America pageant.  After her reign as Miss America she married Carl G. Sempier, a Navy veteran and corporate executive.  The couple had two children.  During the time period from the 1960's to the 1990's she made, along with her marketing promotions, frequent appearances as a motivational speaker for woman's groups as well as volunteering at Paoli Hospital, which is near Philadelphia, PA. and close to her home in Malvern.  

A more recent photo of Miss America 1954.

She did make frequent visits to her childhood home of Ephrata and often told how Ephrata had a positive impact on her.  Evvy, as she was called in Ephrata, once said that winning the title of Miss America gave her the chance to be the ultimate role model, like being Doris Day in real life.  Now, if you don't know who Doris Day might be, you'll have to "Google" that.  Evelyn Sempier, the 1954 Miss America, died October 18, 2008.  I'm proud to say Lancaster County, my home, was the childhood home of a Miss America winner, our own "Miss America."  Tells you that we have beautiful woman living in Lancaster County.  Hey, I married one of them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.