June Fagan, former model

June McAdams Fagan, 86, a beauty queen, singer, and model who operated a finishing school, died Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Quadrangle, a retirement community in Haverford, from natural causes.

A blue-eyed blonde, Mrs. Fagan won the 1943 Miss Philadelphia title, wowing the judges with her singing. That same year, she competed in the Miss America Pageant.

Her beauty earned her modeling assignments for Revlon, Pepsi-Cola, and Coca-Cola, and she adorned the covers of several magazines. She regularly sang with big bands, and in the 1950s, she served as host of a local television show.

In the late '40s, she opened the June McAdams Modeling and Finishing School in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel.

A 1953 feature story in the Evening Bulletin described the school's mission as "coaching magazine cover girls, animated fashion mannequins, soup demonstrators, and convention ornaments how to do it."

"Every girl is born with some sort of attractiveness," Mrs. Fagan said at the time. "The important thing is to emphasize her good points through good grooming, choice of clothing, the right hairdo, and personality developments."

Mrs. Fagan, who was raised in West Philadelphia, attended West Philadelphia High School and played organ at the Ninth Presbyterian Church. During World War II, she sold war bonds and performed in local USO shows.

She met her future husband, Albert E., during a night out with a group of friends in Atlantic City, said her daughter, Kathy-Ann Reissman. She and Mr. Fagan, who had two children from a previous marriage, were married in 1952.

For much of her life, she lived in Merion Park, where she raised three children. She was active in the Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts and served as a troop leader. She retired from running the modeling school in the mid-1960s.

"She lived by the motto, 'If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it.' I never heard her say a disparaging word about anybody," her daughter said.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Fagan is survived by sons A. Scott and Glenn A.; stepdaughter Patricia Fagan Lehr; stepson Richard; six grandchildren; and 13 step-grandchildren.

Burial in West Laurel Hill Cemetery was private.