Southern Bride 2021

we got settled in the car, she said, ‘I’ve signed you up for
a pageant.’”
Stanley’s biggest fear was speaking in front of a crowd of people.
She’d just fainted while talking to a classroom of her peers. To
find out that her mom’s solution was to place her on a stage in
front of three hundred strangers did not bring her any comfort
or excitement. To Stanley, it sounded like the worst idea ever. But
somehow, it worked.
“She signed me up for the Miss Dogwood Pageant, in the teen
division. Honestly, I was livid. I thought that there was no way
that I’d be able to compete. I saw myself
passing out in front of three or four
hundred people on stage.”
Stanley explained that the Miss
Dogwood Pageant has an interview
phase, and contestants are required to
answer impromptu questions by judges.
The questions were answered, not just
in front of the judges but on the stage in
front of hundreds of onlookers.
“I thought that was something that I’d
never be able to do,” Stanley admitted.
“Mom encouraged me, and we worked
together for months to get me prepared.
I really thought that it was impossible
for a person with my severe anxiety to
handle it, but I went in there—my first
pageant ever—and I got perfect scores
in everything. I won every single phase of the competition and
was named Teen Miss Dogwood. It turned out to be just what
I needed.”
Stanley’s confidence grew. She returned to compete for the regular
Miss Dogwood title and won that one as well. Interestingly enough,
the night that Stanley won Miss Dogwood was exactly 20 years
after the date that her mother had been crowned for winning the
same title.
She didn’t stop there. At the age of 17, Stanley won the title
of Miss Georgia Peach, becoming the youngest person to
ever win that one. It’s another title that she and her mother
share. Rowley had won the Miss Georgia Peach Pageant 21
years before her daughter. Winning Miss Georgia Peach
afforded Stanley the opportunity to speak on the House and
Senate floors. Next, she stepped up to compete on the level of the
Miss America organization and made an impressive finish as first
runner-up to Betty Cantrell in the Miss Warner Robins Pageant.
“It turns out that pageants not only helped me gain great
opportunities, but they really helped me to gain confidence and
break that anxiety that I’d suffered for so long,” Stanley pointed
out. “I went on to start coaching other girls and helping them
prepare for pageants.”
And that was the spot on her life’s
journey where she and her husband,
Chris, crossed paths. Stanley shared
that she took a seasonal job at Sharing
Elegance Formalwear in Hendersonville,
Georgia, and her primary responsibility
was to help girls that were shopping for
prom or pageant wear. Because she was
well versed in pageants, Stanley’s mom
would help out at the store too.
Chris lived nearby, and the shop’s owner,
Grace Vinson, knew him well. Formal
gowns can be cumbersome to carry,
and Vinson had asked Chris to come to
the store whenever he could to help the
customers carry their potential purchases
to the dressing rooms.
“It was my first season helping at the shop,” Stanley said, laughing
as she recalled this part of her love story. “We were working one
day, and Chris walked in while I was having a conversation with
my mom. My back was to the door, and my mom was facing the
door. All of a sudden, my mom reached into her bra, pulled out
a tube of lip gloss and whispered, ‘Here. Put some of this on and
go introduce yourself.’ I didn’t know what in the world she was
talking about, but I turned around, and there he was, standing
in the doorway. I just remember thinking to myself, ‘That is one
beautiful man!’”
8 Southern
Bride
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