Miss South Carolina 1958

Gene Lenoir Wilson was the Charleston Civitan nominee to the Miss Charleston pageant held on June 23 of 1958. The 5 foot 7 1/2 inch brunette lived with her parents on Colleton Drive in Byrnes Downs. The beauty also had talent. She began expressing her singing voice at the age of three and one of her favorite pastimes was singing at the Ashley River Baptist Church on Savannah Highway where her family attended service. She wore the Miss Charleston crown with elegance. Her combination of beauty, poise, intelligence and talent was exactly what the judges were looking for when they crowned her Miss South Carolina the following month. Her next stop, the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, NJ.
In August of 1958, Gene stepped out of her Byrnes Downs home with her proud father, Robert B. Wilson, by her side. When Gene was born in May of 1940, her father was hoping for a boy and the doctor had even indicated to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson that he felt strongly that they would have a male child. This humorous human-interest story about the new Miss Charleston was featured in a News and Courier article with a headline: “A Shock for Father-THIS Is A Gridiron Hero….?”.
Gene stopped and smiled to the neighbors and crowd who had gathered in front of her Byrnes Downs home. The Charleston Youth Band entertained the crowd while the paparazzi captured the moment as she walked with her parents to the awaiting 35-car motorcade that would escort her to the Charleston Municipal Airport.
Mary Ann Mobley, Miss Mississippi, was crowned Miss America that year in Atlantic City. However, Gene did win the “most talented classical or semi-classical singer” with her rendition of If I Loved You from the 1956 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. The designation came with a $1,000 scholarship. After her term as Miss South Carolina ended, she made the decision to attend Converse College where she had won a music scholarship, the first time in over 20 years that Converse College had awarded a scholarship for voice.
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