From the stage to the street

Ex-beauty queen's illness, struggle with alcohol lead to homelessness

By Cathy Frye

Photo by File photo

Bunnie Holbert was crowned Miss Arkansas in 1977. Today, she is living at a homeless shelter.

ADVERSTISMENT

In September 1977, a petite, glossy-haired Bunnie Holbert glided across the stage at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City.

Photo Gallery

Bunnie Holbert, then and now

Bunny Holbert was crowned Miss Arkansas in the summer of 1977. Since then, her life has been a series of ups and downs. In 2007, she lived at Our House homeless shelter and kept two jobs. Now she has created a new path for herself as a student on full scholarship at Lee's School of Cosmetology and an Estee Lauder cosmetic consultant at Dillard's. Click on the first photo to begin the slideshow.

She wore a cranberry-red jersey dress that flowed to the floor and matching peau de sois shoes for each night's opening number. In the talent competition, she sang "Feelings" - the same piece she had performed in the Miss Arkansas Pageant just a few months earlier. For the evening gown contest, she donned a white, jeweled crepe-chiffon dress.

For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.