Where is she now?

It is hard to believe sixteen years have passed since being crowned Miss Maine! My year as Miss Maine was very rewarding and exciting. The scholarships I earned at Miss Maine and Miss America allowed me to begin my college education. Sixteen years later I am using that education to obtain my Associates degree in Nursing. In May of 2008 I will be an RN! In the last sixteen years I have had so many wonderful opportunities and challenges. In 1999 I sold my business to hike the Appalachian Trail, a far cry from the runway of Miss America! I struck out on “the Trail” in March of 2000 and lived with everything I needed in my backpack; it was one of the many amazing experiences in my life. While on my journey I met Johnny, my husband and best friend. We have made our life in West Virginia, a beautiful state very much like my home in Maine! In 2001 we were married in a “Trail town” by a minister we met while we were hiking! Just when we didn’t think life could get any richer, in 2004 we were blessed with a beautiful daughter, Annmarie. She is magic in motion! Being a mother is by far the most rewarding experience to date! Between fulltime school, fulltime work, fulltime parenting, a new puppy and a little bit of camping squeezed in between, we are living life to the fullest! I remain grateful for the opportunities and doors that opened because of my Miss Maine experience, and that could not have happened without the many people who come together to make the Miss Maine program what it is, and to them I am also thankful. With each year that passes, on Miss Maine night, I smile to myself and think another young woman’s life is about to change forever! Congratulations and good luck to our new Miss Maine, Tara Allain!