Marilyn Van Derbur

{{Infobox person

|name = Marilyn Van Derbur

|image = MarilynVanDerbur.jpeg

|image_size =

|alt = Marilyn Van Derbur

|caption = Van Derbur in 1981

|birth_name = Marilyn Elaine Van Derbur

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1937|6|16}}

|birth_place = Denver, Colorado, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|children = 1

|spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Gary Nady|1961|1962|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage|Lawrence Atler|1964}}

}}

|nationality = American

|alma_mater = University of Colorado at Boulder

|title = Miss University of Colorado 1957
Miss Colorado 1957
Miss America 1958

|term = September 7, 1957 - September 6, 1958

|predecessor = Marian McKnight

|successor = Mary Ann Mobley

}}

Marilyn Elaine Van Derbur (born June 16, 1937) is an American author, motivational speaker, and beauty pageant titleholder.

In July 1957, she was crowned Miss Colorado 1957.{{cite book|last1=Marling|first1=Karal Ann|title=Debutante: Rites and Regalia of American Debdom|date=2004|publisher=University Press of Kansas|location=Lawrence|isbn=978-0700613175|page=146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ee0AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Marilyn+Van+Derbur+miss+colorado%22|access-date=January 11, 2016}} On September 7, 1957, she was crowned Miss America 1958 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by the outgoing Miss America 1957, Marian McKnight.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jMQtAAAAIBAJ&pg=2159,3830760&dq=miss+america+marilyn-van-derbur&hl=en|title=Nation's Fairest Compete For Role Of Miss America|date=August 30, 1958|work=Rock Hill Herald|access-date=June 7, 2010}}{{cite book|author1=Jeanne Varnell|author2=M. L. Hanson|title=Women of consequence: Colorado Women's Hall of Fame|date=1999|publisher=Johnson Books|location=Boulder, Colo.|isbn=9781555662141|pages=246–52|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ER_kf0pWJZUC&q=Marilyn+Van+Derbur+1937&pg=PA246|access-date=January 10, 2016}}

Biography

=Early life and education=

Marilyn Van Derbur was born on June 16, 1937, in Denver, Colorado., the youngest of four daughters to a family in the Denver mortuary business. (The lighted cross on Mount Lindo southwest of Denver was built so Van Derbur's grandmother could see her husband's final resting place from her home in Park Hill.{{cite news |first=Rebecca |last=Jones |title=Mount Lindo Bears Its Cross |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=March 2, 1997 |page=27D | quote=Olinger later sold the mountain to his son-in-law, Francis S. Van Derbur, father of former Miss America . . . Marilyn Van Derbur Atler. The story goes that Francis S. was walking around the mountain one day with his father, Francis C. Van Derbur, who mentioned he'd like to be entombed up there, with a cross to mark the spot. . . After the senior Van Derbur died, he was entombed there. His son ordered construction of a cross that would be visible to his mother from her Park Hill home.}}) She attended East High School, graduating in 1955,{{cite news|title=Marilyn Van Derbur Chosen Good Citizen |url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CTR19550303-01.2.39&srpos=4&dliv=none&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22marilyn+van+derbur%22-------0------ |work=Colorado Transcript |page=5 |date=March 3, 1955 |access-date=November 7, 2021}} and the University of Colorado, where she earned a degree in English literature with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1960.{{cite news |first=Carol |last=Taylor |title=Taylor: CU's Miss America reigned in 1958 |url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2009/08/15/taylor-cus-miss-america-reigned-in-1958/ |work=Daily Camera |date=August 15, 2009 }}

=Pageantry=

File:Marian McKnight kisses Marilyn Van Derbur (cropped).jpg kisses Van Derbur upon her Miss America 1958 victory]]

During her sophomore year of college, Van Derbur was nominated to represent Pi Beta Phi in the Miss University of Colorado pageant. After being crowned Miss University of Colorado in May 1957, she competed in and was crowned Miss Colorado in July 1957. On September 7, 1957, she was crowned Miss America 1958 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

=Career=

After graduation, she moved to New York City where she was the television spokeswoman for AT&T's The Bell Telephone Hour{{cite news|first=David |last=Holthouse|title=Crowning Achievement|url=http://www.westword.com/news/crowning-achievement-5079863|access-date=8 January 2016|work=Westword|date=June 24, 2004}} and hosted 10 episodes of Candid Camera. She was the television hostess for the Miss America Pageant for five years.

Van Derbur worked as a public speaker throughout her career. She established the Marilyn Van Derbur Motivational Institute in 1975, where she produced a series of 30-minute motivational films shown at business meetings and conventions.{{cite news|first=James |last=Coates |title='58 Miss America Tells Horror of Incestuous Father |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-05-10-9102110499-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=May 10, 1991}}

When Van Derbur was 53, she revealed that she had experienced child incestuous abuse from age 5 to 18, perpetrated by her father.{{cite web|first1=Michelle |last1=Tauber |first2=Mike |last2=Neill |first3=Lisa |last3=Russell |first4=Joanne|last4=Fowler |first5=Julie |last5=Dam |first6=Alex |last6=Tresniowski |first7=Samantha |last7=Miller |first8=Steve |last8=Dougherty |first9=Ting |last9=Yu |title= American Beauties: 80 Years |work= People |url=https://people.com/archive/american-beauties-80-years-vol-54-no-16/ |date=October 16, 2000}} Her story was featured on the cover of People magazine in June 1991.{{cite news|title=The Darkest Secret|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20115294,00.html|access-date=January 11, 2016|work=People magazine|date=June 10, 1991}} She and her husband provided initial funding for an adult incest survivor program at The Kempe Center, and she founded the Survivors United Network.{{cite news|author1=Trish Kinney|title=Standing with Miss America 1958|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trish-kinney/standing-with-miss-americ_b_309742.html|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=Huffington Post (Blog)|date=March 18, 2010}}

=Marriage and children=

Following a brief marriage in 1961 to former University of Colorado football player Gary Nady, Van Derbur married her high school boyfriend Lawrence "Larry" Atler in 1964.{{cite news |title=Marilyn Married in Mountain Retreat |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=February 15, 1964 |quote=Miss America of 1958, Marilyn Van Derbur -- now Mrs. Lawrence Atler -- and her smiling bridegroom pose before a picture window framing a Colorado winter wonderland after a snowy Valentine's Day wedding in the Indian Hills summer home of the bride's parents....}} The couple has a daughter, Jennifer.

=Legacy=

In 2021, Van Derbur announced she would be auctioning her Miss America crown and bracelet to benefit Denver Public Schools.{{cite news

|first=Sydney |last=Page |title=She was Miss America in 1958. Now she's auctioning her treasured crown to benefit teachers. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/10/22/miss-america-crown-marilyn-vanderbur/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=October 22, 2021}}

Published works

Miss America By Day (Oak Hill Ridge Press, 2003)

Recognition

1955: Seventeen's Miss Young America{{cite web|title=Marilyn Van Derbur Seventeen Magazine 1955|url=https://twitter.com/laylabyclapton/status/1624597383756521472?t=1VNST5SxjNzTUTtigcsIfw&s=19|publisher=Seventeen Magazine 1955}}
1957: Miss Colorado
1958: Miss America
1996: inductee, Colorado Women's Hall of Fame{{cite web|title=Marilyn Van Derbur Atler |url=https://www.cogreatwomen.org/project/marilyn-van-derbur-atler/ |publisher=Colorado Women's Hall of Fame}}
2019: inductee, Colorado Authors Hall of Fame {{cite web| title= OH WHAT A NIGHT! |url=https://www.coloradoauthorshalloffame.org/phone/colorado-inductees.html |website=coloradoauthorshalloffame.org |access-date=2023-03-18}}