Evelyn Sempier, 75, a Miss America

Evelyn Ay Sempier, 75, of Malvern, Miss America 1954, the only Miss Pennsylvania to gain the national title, died of colorectal cancer Saturday at home.

Before her, the national title had gone to four Pennsylvanians who represented their cities, not the state: to Miss Philadelphias in 1924, 1936 and 1940 and to Miss Pittsburgh in 1935, according to the Web site

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A Philadelphia native and an Ephrata resident at the time, Evelyn Margaret Ay was a 20-year-old junior at the University of Pennsylvania when she arrived in Atlantic City on Sept. 7, 1953.

The Inquirer reported that she arrived "too late to pose for a group picture or to meet Eddie Fisher, the Philadelphia crooner who will be grand marshal of tomorrow's Boardwalk Parade."

" 'Oh, my,' she gasped. 'I've never seen so many beautiful girls,' " the paper reported.

"Evelyn is an impressive beauty herself," the story noted. "She's five feet eight inches - one of the tallest girls in the pageant."

A few months after she won and took a year's leave from her studies, the Evening Bulletin reported that, "London, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich and Rome - that's now the itinerary for the much-in-demand Miss America, who expects to earn some $50,000 before her one-year tenure as the nation's favorite ends this summer."

Looking back in a 1964 interview, Mrs. Sempier said, "I was very naive and sort of fell into the whole thing."

In 1966, she was a member of the hospitality committee at the Miss Pennsylvania pageant, identified in an Inquirer report as "a suburban housewife who lectures to women's groups 'on the care and feeding of executive husbands.' "

And when she was 50 in 1983, The Inquirer reported that she still defended the Miss America pageant "against the criticism that, despite the scholarship money it provides, it is an anachronism, irrelevant to the society of the '80s."

" 'We do need our little islands of fantasy on our mainland of reality,' she said."

One of her daughters, Stacy Sempier, said yesterday that "most recently she was active with the Paoli Hospital Women's Auxiliary" and as a volunteer in the hospital's thrift shop.

"My mom spoke and met monthly with the folks at an assisted living [community] in Paoli called High Gate. She did devotionals and Bible studies" there.

"My mom was often asked to speak to the young, to the elderly," Stacy Sempier said. "She crossed all generations with her outreach."

Mrs. Sempier is also survived by daughter Carlyn Darby and two grandchildren. Her husband, Carl, the New Jersey state high hurdles champion in 1948 and 1949 and a former manager of marketing services for the Pennsylvania Railroad, died last year.

A life celebration is planned for 1 p.m. Tuesday at Paoli Presbyterian Church, 225 S. Valley Rd., Paoli.