Annual Meeting Memories: Miss Kentucky REA

Editor’s note: This story, originally printed in the May edition of Salt River News, incorrectly identified Dolores’ husband as Frank instead of the late John Oakley. This error has been corrected.

When you think of Salt River Electric’s annual meeting, what comes to mind?

Member appreciation gifts? The smell of a porkchop sandwiches? Everyone’s favorite combination of a bucket and bulbs? What about beauty contests?

It might be hard to imagine, but there was once a time when your local electric co-op’s annual meeting was more like a county fair, and that included beauty contests. And for one Salt River Electric member, that contest would take her further than she could have imagined.

At 90 years old, Dolores Oakley still carries herself with grace and beauty. Bornin Bullitt County in 1934, Dolores, whose maiden name was Cornell, moved wither family to a farm in Nelson County near the end of World War II in 1945. “My dad bought a farm here in Nelson County, and we left in the middle of the school year,” Dolores says. “It was during the war, and you couldn’t get things. So we didn’t have indoor plumbing for about six to nine months.”

When Salt River’s annual meeting rolled around in the summer of 1952, Dolores, for reasons unknown to even her, entered into the Miss Salt River REA Beauty Contest. And, to her surprise, she won the contest, moving on to a state-wide REA contest held in September of the same year.

After the summer, Dolores would join 21 other REA beauty contest winners in Louisville, where the ladies would prepare for the state-wide contest and partake in a variety of activities, including radio and television appearances. The winners would come together for a parade in Louisville on September 6, featured as part of that year’s State Fair opening day festivities, held at the original fairgrounds in the horse show building. Dolores remembers one distinct aspect of that day.

“It was hotter than heck,” she says with a laugh.

As the hours moved on, and the judges whittled down the crowded field of contestants, four remained. After further discussions, they had decided on a queen.

From the October 1952 issue of Rural Kentuckian: “They selected a bright-eyed brunette from Bardstown, Kentucky—lovely Miss Dolores Cornell, a girl who ’didn’t think she would win.’”

Crowned Miss Kentucky REA, Dolores received a crown and trophy, a TV, and a trip to Los Angeles to compete in the national NRECA-sponsored event.

Upon returning to Bardstown, Dolores was celebrated by local officials. At the time, Dolores says she couldn’t under-stand the excitement.

“Oh yes! At the time I’m thinking, ’What’s this all about?’”

Dolores would get that promised trip to California, traveling for the first-time in an airplane, going on tours in Los Angeles, and visiting the famed Cocoanut Grove club. She would return to Centre College soon after, meeting and marrying her future husband, John, just a few years later. Asked if she still had her crown or sash, the former beauty queen said she does not. “I just have the pictures.”

And the memory.