Donna Axum

{{Infobox person

| name = Donna Axum

| image = Donna Axum.jpg

| alt = Donna Axum

| caption = Axum in 1964

| birth_name = Donna Idelle Axum

| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|1|3}}

| birth_place = El Dorado, Arkansas, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|11|4|1942|1|3}}

| death_place = Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

| alma_mater = University of Arkansas

| title = Miss America 1964

| term =

| predecessor = Jacquelyn Mayer

| successor = Vonda Kay Van Dyke

| other_names = Donna Axum Whitworth

| spouse = {{plainlist|

Michael Alan Buckley
{{marriage|Gus Franklin Mutscher|1969|1972|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage| J. Bryan Whitworth|1984}}

}}

| children = 6

| signature = Donna Axum signature.jpg

}}

Donna Axum (January 3, 1942 – November 4, 2018) was an American beauty pageant winner, author, television executive producer, philanthropist and model. She was crowned Miss America in 1964. One month earlier she had been crowned Miss Arkansas.

After her Miss America win, Axum taught classes at Texas Tech University and worked in television such as starring on The Noon Show and Good Morning Arkansas. Aside from Miss America, Axum was an active civic leader as she served on the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. after being nominated by President Bill Clinton, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Van Cliburn Foundation and Texas Christian University College of Fine Arts Board of Visitors.

Early life

Axum was born in El Dorado, Arkansas to Hurley B. Axum, a banker, and Idelle Axum ({{nee|Wheat}}). She had French, Dutch and Irish ancestors.{{cite book |title= Arkansas Lives |publisher= Historical Record Association, Inc. |location= Hopkinsville, Kentucky |year=1965 |last1=Ferguson |first1=John L. |pages=16 |lccn=65-25764 |oclc=3621873 |isbn=978-1-56546-451-3 |ref={{harvid|"Lives"|1965}} }} Axum has a sister, Mona. In 1959, Axum graduated from El Dorado High School.{{cite web |url=https://libraries.uark.edu/specialcollections/findingaids/ead/transform.php?xml=mc1806&xsl=findingaid |title=Donna Axum Whitworth Papers MC1806 |publisher=libraries.uark.edu |date=2019 |access-date=September 30, 2019}}(37 boxes)

Education

Axum's Miss America scholarship was used to complete her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in speech/drama, television and film.{{cite news|url=https://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2018/11/05/donna-axum-whitworth-miss-america-in-dies-at-76|title=Donna Axum Whitworth, Miss America in 1964, dies at 76|newspaper=Arkansas Times|access-date=November 5, 2018}} While there, she was a member of the Delta Iota chapter of Delta Delta Delta.{{cite web|url=https://uagreeks.uark.edu/panhellenic-council/delta-delta-delta.php|title=Delta Delta Delta|publisher=University of Arkansas|access-date=November 5, 2018}}

Career

= Early pageants =

In 1958, during Axum's high school senior year, she won the beauty pageant title for Miss Union County. She secured titles as the 1960 Arkansas Miss Hospitality, 1961 Arkansas Forest Queen, and the 1962 National Cotton Picking Queen.

= Miss Arkansas =

Before 1963, Axum first competed for Miss Arkansas, but was unsuccessful.

In 1963, before her final year at the University of Arkansas, Axum became a contestant again and won the 1963 beauty pageant title as Miss Arkansas.

= Miss America 1964 =

Axum won the Miss America 1964 pageant about a month later. Axum become the first of only three Arkansans to win the title. The other two are Elizabeth Ward (1981) and Savvy Shields (2016). Axum traveled over 250,000 miles (400,000 km) representing the state and nation as Miss America at events.

= Communications and entertainment =

Axum held many titles after serving as Miss America: university instructor, author, television executive producer, TV hostess, professional speaker and civic leader. In 1988, Axum was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Arkansas and served on its National Development Council.{{cite web|url=https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/donna-axum-whitworth-first-miss-arkansas-to-be-crowned-miss-america-dies-at-76/91-611359446|title=Donna Axum Whitworth, first Miss Arkansas to be crowned Miss America, dies at 76|publisher=THV11|access-date=November 5, 2018}} She also served on the steering committee of a seven-year capital campaign that raised more than $1.046 billion for the university.{{cite book| last = Kinch Jr.| first = Sam |author2=Procter, Ben | title = Texas Under a Cloud: Story of the Texas Stock Fraud Scandal | publisher = Jenkins | year = 1972 }}

Axum taught speech classes at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and later worked in television, starring in programs like The Noon Show and Good Morning Arkansas.

Axum was nominated by President Bill Clinton to be a member of the boards of the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She also served at the Fort Worth Symphony, the Van Cliburn Foundation, named for the famed pianist from Shreveport, Louisiana, and the Texas Christian University College of Fine Arts Board of Visitors.{{cite web |url=http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1960/1964.aspx |title=Miss America History 1964 |access-date=December 31, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605002423/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1960/1964.aspx |archive-date=June 5, 2008 }}

Axum remained active at the University of Arkansas, participating in campaigns to help most of the university's fundraising efforts until her death in 2018.

Personal life

Axum first married Michael Alan Buckley and had one child, Lisa. They later divorced.

In 1969, Axum married Gus Franklin Mutscher, who served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 1969 to 1972 and later as the Washington County judge. The pair divorced in 1972. They had a son, Gus H. Mutscher.

On March 1, 1984, Axum married J. Bryan Whitworth, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips.{{cite web|url=http://www.magnoliareporter.com/news_and_business/union_county/article_d37ef98e-e12c-11e8-ae65-d3632a6a5129.html|title=Arkansas' first Miss America, Donna Axum Whitworth, passes away|publisher=Magnolia Reporter|access-date=November 5, 2018}} The Whitworths lived in Fort Worth, Texas.{{cite web|last1=Hendricks|first1=Nancy|title=Donna Axum Whitworth (1942–)|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2332|website=The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture|publisher=Central Arkansas Library System|access-date=February 4, 2018}} Bryan Whitworth had three children, Elizabeth, Suzanne, and Cathy.

As an author Axum penned How to Be and Look Your Best Everyday: A Comprehensive Guide from a Former Miss America in 1978.

Axum died on November 4, 2018, at age 76 in Fort Worth from complications of Parkinson's disease.{{cite web |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/obituaries/2018/nov/07/donna-whitworth-2018-11-07/ |title=Donna Axum Whitworth |publisher=arkansasonline.com |access-date=September 30, 2019}}

{{cite web|url=https://5newsonline.com/2018/11/05/first-miss-arkansas-to-win-miss-america-dies-at-76/|title=First Miss Arkansas To Win Miss America Dies At 76|publisher=5NewsOnline|access-date=November 5, 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/nov/06/1st-miss-america-from-state-dies-76-201/|title=1st Miss America from Arkansas dies at 76 |publisher=Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette |access-date=November 6, 2018}}

Axum is buried at Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville, Arkansas.{{cite web |url=https://thompsonfunerals.com/obituaries/donna-whitworth/306/ |title=Donna Axum Whitworth |publisher=thompsonfunerals.com |access-date=September 30, 2019}}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|id=2255075}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927205216/http://www.tridelta.org/alumnae/Distinguished_Alumnae/distinguished_deltas/directory_detail.asp?blobID=4149 Delta Delta Delta Distinguished Alumnae profile]
{{cite web|title=Donna Axum Whitworth|url=http://pryorcenter.uark.edu/interview.php?thisProject=Arkansas%20Memories&thisProfileURL=WHITWORTH-Donna-Axum&displayName=Donna%20%20Axum%20Whitworth&thisInterviewee=520|publisher=Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History|access-date=February 4, 2018}} video with transcript

{{succession box

| before=Jacquelyn Mayer

| title=Miss America

| years=1964

| after=Vonda Kay Van Dyke

}}

{{succession box

| before=Edye Addington

| title=Miss Arkansas

| years=1963

| after=Pam Jackson

}}