Wendy Jane Dascomb (born January 7, 1950) is an American model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1969.
In 1969 Dascomb, a resident of Danville, Virginia, and freshman at Stratford College, reluctantly competed in the Miss Piedmont Pageant at the urging of college faculty. She won and then advanced to the state level pageant and won the Miss Virginia USA title. In May she represented Virginia in the Miss USA 1969 Pageant held in Miami, Florida, where she became the first Virginian to win the Miss USA title. Dascomb later represented the United States in the 1969 Miss Universe Pageant, placing in the Top 15 but losing to Gloria Diaz of the Philippines.
During her reign, Dascomb travelled to 100+ cities making appearances as a pageant ambassador and model, including appearances in South America and Europe. As part of her prize package she received $5,000 in cash and a variety of other prizes.
Dascomb was a liberal arts major studying at Stratford College when she won and said that she wanted to study Special Education. On giving up her crown Dascomb said that she had missed school and her friends and was looking forward to returning to college and being with people who “share [her] views”. Her farewell speech, delivered off the cuff, spoke of her disillusionment with the pageant and said she learned that beauty contests were “all wrapped up in selling – sell me, sell a swimsuit”.She stated that “I was not the best Miss USA but I was the most honest”.
In 1972, Dascomb contributed an article for ‘Ms. magazine, in which she wrote of her experience as Miss USA and elaborate further on her disillusionment over the pageant and her role as a titleholder. She was featured on the cover of the magazine’s first issue.
Dascomb was succeeded by Deborah Shelton, also of Virginia, which made Virginia the first state in the pageant’s history to have back-to-back winners.
Dascomb later lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she attended the University of North Carolina. As an honors student, she majored in Comparative Religion and Philosophy.
She and her husband, Jay Bryan, have owned a farm in Chapel Hill since the mid-1990s. They have five children; Dascomb has three by a former marriage and Mr. Bryan has two by his late wife, Carroll. They have three daughters, Millie Dascomb Long, Amanda Kyser Bryan, and Hadley Pirkko Long. Their two sons are Joshua Forrest Pescud Long and William Taylor Bryan. Dascomb and Bryan have six grandchildren.
Dascomb has been a teacher, mentor, tutor, coach, pastry chef, 4-H leader, and coordinator for a therapeutic riding program, and throughout her adult life has been a horse trainer.
She attended the 60th reunion of the Miss USA/Universe pageant in Las Vegas in June 2011.
She appeared in a recent article in SHAPE magazine. Source