Evening star., 1943-08-22
Dixie Rafter Named
Miss Washington
AT War Bond Rally

Miss Dixie Rafter, 18-year-olc
blue-eyed blond, was the unanimou.
choice of 13 judges and most of the
$500 persons who stood in front o.
the District Building yesterday tx
see her crowned Miss Washington
d. C."-the girl who will represen,
the District in the Atlantic City
beauty pageant next month.
Miss Rafter sang and tap danced
her way into the hearts of the crowo
and came close to making a per-
feet score in talent, face, figure and
personality. She won over seven
other finalists.
A native of Cumberland, Md, Miss
Rafter has been in Washington 10
months. She is employed in the
Federal Bureau of Investigation but
would not talk about her job, saying
1t was restricted information. On
other matters she talked freely, and
revealed she has two boy friends.
She Has Two Boy Friends.
One is an Army Air Forces cadet
training in Florida and the other is
an Army sergeant stationed in Flor
ida. On second thought, Miss Rafter
said maybe it would not be too good
to mention them because maybe
they will read about it, and then I'll
be in a fix"
Miss Rafter wore a one-piece
black bathing suit and was nicely
tanned. She got the tan at Beverly
Beach, Md, and carefully explained
she travelled there by bus. She said
she had been dancing professionally
since she was 8 years old, touring
the East with a Cumberland troupe.
Her mother finally put stop to her
career and she decided to come to
Washington to help in the war
effort.
She almost missed being Miss
Washington" She grew tired of
waiting for her number to be called
at one Of the semiflnal eliminations
last week, and was just about to 20
home, when her number came UP.
In addition to dancing, including
1itterbugging. Miss Rafter likes
bowling, swimming and horseback
riding. She lives with two girl
friends from Cumberland at l04
Seventeenth street Sc.
d. C. Girl Is Second.
Runnerup for the title was a ma
tive-born Washington girl, Rose
Marie Schiller, also 18, blond and.
blue-eyed. She, too, sang and tap
danced, accomplishment which gave
her a place in the chorus of a
Broadway show last season. Miss
Schiller lives at 1924 Fort Davis
place NE. and is graduate of Cen
trail High School.
During the period in which the
judges scores were being tabulated.
the eight f1nalists moved through
the crowd with War bond purchase
forms. The affair was under aus
plces of Station WWDC and
included an appeal from Lyle
O'Rourke of the District War Bond
Committee to start buying bonds
now, ahead of the September drive.
Judges were Clark Griffith, presi-
dent of the Washington Baseball
A<op @A0AiiSipdl SOuIJ y Judge George
D. Nelson and Mrs. Nelson, Vincent
j. Callahan of the Treasury Depart
ment, Howard Wentworth, repre-
sentine the Commissioners; jay
Carmody of The Star, Andy Kelley
OF Variety, Russell Stewart of the
Daily News. John Maynard of the
Times Herald, Herb Sachs of the
Del Rio Night Club, Miss, Elsie
Chong of the University OF Southern
California. Miss Alice Lane and Miss
Marshall Adams, Master of cere-
monies was Norman Reed. Eddie
Rogers Orchestra and his group
entertained.
A crown of white flowers was
placed on Miss Rafters' head by
Hugh Lynch, executive manager of
the District War Finance Commit
tee. Long after the crowds had dis
persed Miss Washington, D. c."
was posing for photographers and
still smiling prettily.