Former Miss Arkansas who was crowned state's first Miss America dies at 76

November 5, 2018 at 9:55 a.m.

by Jaime Dunaway

NWA Democrat-Gazette/CARIN SCHOPPMEYER Savvy Shields, Miss America (left), visits with Donna Axum Whitworth, Miss America 1964 and a founding member of the University Women’s Giving Circle, at a reception in Axum Whitworth’s honor April 20 at the Fowler House Conservatory on the UA campus in Fayetteville.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/CARIN SCHOPPMEYER Savvy Shields, Miss America (left), visits with Donna Axum Whitworth, Miss America 1964 and a founding member of the University Women’s Giving Circle, at a reception in Axum Whitworth’s honor April 20 at the Fowler House Conservatory on the UA campus in Fayetteville.

A former Miss Arkansas who was crowned Miss America died Sunday, the state's scholarship organization announced.

Donna Axum Whitworth was 76 years old.

The Miss Arkansas Scholarship Competition posted the news Sunday evening on its Facebook page. No other details were released.

The El Dorado native was the first Miss Arkansas to win Miss America in 1964. Whitworth, who earned a bachelor's and master's degree in speech and drama from the University of Arkansas, went on to serve on the Arkansas Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Miss America Board of Directors.

The 2016 Miss America winner from Arkansas, Savvy Shields, said in a Facebook post that to know Whitworth "was to love her."

"She made everyone she met feel like they were the only person in the room," Shields wrote. "She lived as a role model to everyone who knew her name and inspired so many more. Love you so much Donna. Forever our Miss America."

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