Ruth Kern competed in the Mrs. Illinois/Mrs. America
beauty contest June l4th and l5th, l997
and was one of the l2 finalists.
Ruth is wearing a dark green strapless gown with long white gloves. Her gown was a copy of a gown that Jackie Kennedy wore when she was First Lady. When Ruth entered college in l96l, she studied fashion and fashion in those days was JACKIE! She always admired the way in which Jackie lived her life and wore a copy of one of her gowns in the beauty contest as a way of paying homage to her.
The husbands of the finalists were interviewed on stage. Here is Dale Kern looking very serious during his interview. He�s an engineer, what do you expect?
When Ruth was being interviewed on stage after having been announced as a finalist in the Mrs. Illinois/America beauty pageant, the Master of Ceremonies upon realizing that Ruth was an Etiquette Consultant asked her, "What is the proper etiquette at a McDonald�s restaurant? Do you eat your French fries first and then go from the outside in?"
"No, no," Ruth laughed, "put your napkin on your lap first and don�t gobble!"
The idea for Ruth�s first booklet which starts with proper dining etiquette at a fast food restaurant and then deals with etiquette at various other social and business occasions was conceived the night of the pageant.
