Columnist Susan Snyder: Beauty is years in the making

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 4:19 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column also appears Tuesdays and Fridays in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

There she is.

Ms. America of a different era.

Forget the youthful Slim-Fast freaks. The 41 Ms. Senior America Pageant contestants who competed for the title in Las Vegas last week were born before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

They've survived children and grandchildren, marriage and divorce, housework, career work, volunteer work and even cancer. They've been there, done that and done it some more.

And they still clean up really good.

"None of us ever in our lives expect all this attention," said Joan Daues, Ms. Senior Missouri 1997. "They are beautiful. Wrinkles and all."

Daues was among those watching the evening gown and philosophy of life competitions, conducted Tuesday at The Auto Collections at Imperial Palace.

Contestants flaunted their outer beauty by donning formal attire and revealed their inner beauty by explaining their philosophies of life.

In all of 35 seconds.

Ms. Senior Nevada Mary Ann Buzzelli emerged from the spangled sea of vintage beauties wearing a sleek off-the-shoulder bronze gown covered in glittering beads.

The stunning, red-headed, 64-year-old Las Vegas mother of seven and grandmother of 15 called her secrets to life "the four L's":

Learn something new each day. Laugh often, heartily and at yourself. Love everyone and everything, and live each day to its fullest.

"Life is your best thing yet to come," Buzzelli said.

Buzzelli, retired vice president of the Urda Company Inc., dances with the Nevada Silver Tappers and other groups. She is a volunteer mentor for women trying to re-enter the work force, and also choreographs musical productions for seniors.

She entered the pageant at the urging of a friend and spent most of the year preparing for it. The talent competition was the least of her worries. She dances all the time anyway. The Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the pageant (which opened Monday) she danced two shows a day with the Silver Sensations in Laughlin.

She arrived home at 9 a.m. Sunday, just in time to re-pack her bags, grab her husband and head off to check into the Imperial Palace for the weeklong pageant.

None of that was as taxing as Tuesday's competition, she said.

"Trying to develop a philosophy of life that you can say in 35 seconds is hard, when you have a multitude of experiences to call upon," Buzzelli said. "It takes a lot of soul-searching."

Her competitors packed a lot of wisdom into half a minute, reaching many of the same conclusions: Be faithful. Be a friend. Be generous. Read, love, laugh, and share your talents.

These women have shared plenty of time and talent with old people, young people; people who are challenged mentally or physically.

One pageant officials said if you paid half the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage for each hour of volunteer work this group of women performed over the past year, you'd shell out about $7.5 million.

Who won? Doris Preston, Ms. Senior California. Buzzelli was among the finalists.

But does it really matter? Every single one of these gals is a winner.

So take a look. There she is.