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Bluffton, Ind.
July 19, 2005

By Sarah Pulliam
Royalty runs in the family.
Lori Murray, 17, followed in her sister Lisa Murray’s footsteps when she was crowned Miss Wells County Monday night.
Lisa, 23, represents six states as Miss Mideast 2005 and reigned as Miss Wells County 2001.
“She’s always there at my pageants cheering with my family,” Lisa said. “It’s nice to be on the other side and cheering for her.”
Lori has watched Lisa compete in many pageants and described she and her sister as close friends.
“We go shopping, we like to watch movies together. We’re good friends, except when it comes time to sharing clothes,” Lori said and laughed.
Lori is daughter of Jaine and Lincoln Murray and will be a senior at Norwell High School in this fall.
Her three sisters played an active role in the Miss Wells County pageant.
“The pageants always become a family affair,” Jaine said. “Everybody just jumps in and does what needs to be done.”
Lisa was the co-director of this year’s pageant and performed a dance routine to song “Let’s Get Loud,” the talent she performed in the Miss Mideast competition.
Lori’s 9-year-old sister Shannon Murray escorted the contestants as one of the 12 Miss Indiana Little Princesses. Shannon escorted Miss Indiana contestants in the pageant where Lisa competed in June.
Kristen Murray, 13, held the video camera throughout the pageant.
“She’s too old for the younger pageants and she’s too young for the older pageants,” Lisa said. “She’s our official recording crew. She’s content to video tape, take pictures, gain knowledge and experience.”
Lori’s 6-year-old twin brothers Alex and Kyle did not attend the pageant and her brother Ryan, 15, didn’t look too pleased to be in the family pictures after the event.
“He’s very supportive, but he's a boy. He likes to tease and aggravate his sisters,” Jaine said. “He’s very supportive, hauling stuff with dad and in the cheering section.”
Jaine was surprised when the emcee announced her daughter as Miss Wells County.
“Her boyfriend was sitting beside me and I think I beat his arm,” she said.
The Murrays began competing in pageants when Lisa competed in Miss Wells County when she was 19.
Jaine said she thinks the pageants help ladies build their self-esteem and public speaking skills.
“We’re already thinking of different things to do in the community. I’ve raised these kids so they know they will be out in the community,” Jaine said. “I think you need to give back to your community to keep it healthy and going.”
The Murray family will keep busy this year with two reigning contestants in the house.
“I just keep going and going and going. Some days I wonder how I'm going to fit it all in there, but it seems to pull together,” Jaine said. “One of these days I will rock in my chair and watch tv. The house will be quiet and I’ll wonder ‘what’s going on?’”
Lisa praised her mother as being the best director a pageant contestant could have.
“Our mom is the best as far as practice interview questions, she helps us get out wardrobe together and goes on countless shopping sprees,” Lisa said. “She’s not like the pushy pageant mom. We do the pageants because we like to.”
Lori will represent Wells County at the Indiana State Fair and will compete in the state fair pageant in Aug.19-21. National City donated $400 for Lori’s first place award.
Lori proved her outgoing personality throughout the evening.
After she became tangled in her gown's train as she received the Miss Congeniality award, she laughed and pumped her fist.
As pictures were being snapped, Lori would make faces to stop her smile from hurting.
In the dressing room before the competition, Lisa gave the ladies a pep talk.
The contestants fussed around with their hair and chatted nervously in anticipation of the contest.
“All of us lined up in the bathroom brushing our teeth after dinner,” Lori said. “We were all talking and had toothpaste. It was probably the funniest part and what I’ll remember most about it.
Lori was also shocked to receive the Miss Congeniality award.
“I was just astounded and dumbfounded for a few minutes,” she said.
The crowd of friends and relatives held signs, wore painted t-shirts and screamed in support of their favorite candidate throughout the pageant.
The weather was humid and muggy, recovering from a downpour two hours earlier.
The evening began with an opening number where the seven contestants danced in their black, formal dresses to “She’s a Lady.”
Lisa said the dance routine was to try to make the pageant something the crowd saw more.
“We just thought we needed a fresh face to the pageant,” Lisa said. “It makes the girls ready to go down to the state fair pageant.”
After the dance routine, each candidate was asked a question by emcee Lorri Christian-Reese, Miss Wells County 1990.
Lori was asked what she would want to accomplished throughout the year if she were selected as Miss Wells County.
She responded that she would want to be involved the community and get more girls active in the pageant next year.
She told the News-Banner later that she hopes to recruit 13 to 15 ladies next year.
“A bunch of the girls had never done pageants before and they placed,” Lori said. “It just shows you how much fun it was.”
Lori wore a light pink professional suit for the business wear competition where the ladies were introduced.
The contestants walked across the stage for the evening gown competition to the popular pageant song “One in a Million,” as Christian-Reese announced their accomplishments and aspirations.
Lori is the recipient of the Rex Decker mental attitude award, a graduate of Charmaine Modeling School an Upward cheering coach, varsity cheerleader and track member. She plans to become a pediatric neurologist.
Suspense filled the air as Christian-Reese announced runners-up. Silence fell just before announcing the Miss Wells County.
Christian-Reese said, “And the 2005 Miss Wells County is…did you guys have a good time?” to the crowd who responded with groans and laughter.
Victoria Nicholson won first runner-up and $300 donated by Markle Bank. Marci Worden received second runner-up and $200 from Ossian Bank while Natalie Layton received third runner-up and $100 from the Wells County Chamber of Commerce.
The other candidates, their pictures and their credentials were featured in the July 16 issue of the News-Banner.
After Lori was presented with her tiara, plaque and flowers, she waved to the crowd, shaking with excitement.
Lori wore a fitted black strapless gown with a train. The gown was accented with green, yellow, pink, purple and turquoise beads.
Lori and her mother thought Brinnan Imel would win after Christian-Reese announced the first runner-up.
“I kind of thought it was between me and Brinnan and I thought ‘Oh Brinnan got it, Brinnan got it’ and when they said my name, I thought, ‘Oh poor Brinnan!” She’s my best friend and if either of us were to represent Wells County, I’d be excited,” Lori said.
Lori and Imel cheerlead together at Norwell and have been friends since elementary school.
Singer Susie Wood provided the entertainment for the evening.
She said to the contestants, “Here’s some advice from another princess” before she sang “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from “Cinderella.”
2005 Indiana State Fair Queen Keela Roser congratulated the contestants and promoted the Aug. 10-21 state fair. She represents Wabash County as she visits 35 county fairs this summer.
The pageant crowd mumbled when Roser announced the fair’s Starbucks Cafe and Switchfoot Clay Aiken concerts.
2004 Miss Wells County April Heyerly’s eyes filled with tears when she said thanked her parents and said her goodbye.
“I always said I wasn’t going to cry,” she said.
Heyerly recalled her first-time experiences as Miss Wells County.
“It was my first time being in a pageant, first time being in a parade and first time being six inches away from a cow,” she said. “Wow I can’t believe it’s been a year already.”
Heyerly will transfer from IPFW to St. Francis to become a physician’s assistant. She later told the News-Banner she wants to concentrate on school before she competes in any other pageants.
Heyerly said she was sad her time as Miss Wells County is over, but was glad to give the crown to someone she knew since she and Lori competed in the pageant last year together.
“I think it’s going to a really good, deserving girl,” she said. “It just makes it better when you know the person.”
The crowd clapped for Rebecca Meyer and Cylie Hoopingartner after they were recognized as 2003 and 2002 Miss Wells County during the competition.
Judges scored the contestants for the earlier interview, personality and speech. Christian-Reese explained that only half of the scoring is done during the evening for professional wear and evening gown.
The two judges were Lynette Dudash, assistant director of the Miss DeKalb County pageant, and Shirley Souder, executive director for the Miss Fort Wayne and Miss Outstanding Teen pageants in Fort Wayne.
Lisa said she was exempt from judging parts of the pageants and met the judges after the contest.
“This year I kept myself out of a lot of things,” she said. Since Lori was in the competition, I didn’t want there to be any question of that.”
She praised her co-director Joye Fuess who juggled the pageant while expecting a baby in October.
“Joye just has it all together,” Lisa said. “It was just fun being there with her.”
Lisa said the baby girl will be named Miss Wells 2020 and laughed.
Lori competed in Miss Indiana Oustanding Teen June 25 hopes to compete in the Miss Mideast contest next summer.
“I always thought it’d be really neat for Lisa to crown me,” Lori said.
Lori doesn’t have specific plans but hopes to compete in more pageants in the future.
“I’d just like to do as many pageants as I can and get a lot of experience under my belt because that scholarship money’s going to help a lot.” Lori said. “I’ve always wanted to be Miss America, but hey, Miss Wells County’s a step.”