Miss Georgia 1988 Frances Frazier honored with exhibit at Rome Area History Museum

By Doug Walker DWalker@RN-T.com Aug 14, 2019  

The Rome Area History Museum is hosting a special exhibit to honor the late Frances Frazier this month.

She was a native of Rome and was Miss Georgia in 1988 and competed in the Miss America Pageant later that same year. The exhibit coincides with the annual Miss Rome Pageant which will be conducted Saturday night at the Rome City Auditorium.

The museum will be open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday night so the visitors to Rome for the pageant can see the exhibit.

Frazier, who was Miss Rome in 1984 but won the Miss Georgia Pageant in 1988 as Miss Peachtree City, died in 1991. She passed away suddenly in 1991 at age 28.

Mark Frazier, Frances’ brother, contacted Andrea Pitts a few years ago to see if the local pageant leaders would be interested in some of Frances’ memorabilia and Pitts said she was, of course, willing and would find an appropriate way to display the items.

Leigh Ann Atkins Lundy, Miss Rome 1987, who attended West Rome Baptist Church with Frazier and competed against Frazier in the 1988 state pageant, said Frazier was beautiful inside and out.

“She was so talented and won with the song ‘Amen,’” Lundy said. She was actually asked to travel with Miss Georgia that year but said she passed on that opportunity because she was ready to come home. The winner of the Miss Rome Pageant always competes in the state pageant following their year as Miss Rome.

“I went to Miss America to see her in the Miss America pageant,” Lundy said. “Reesa Milton and I, and that was loads of fun as well.”

Lundy said both Frazier and her mother Betty Frazier kept encouraging Lundy to try again to win the state pageant but Lundy said that she was very happy and content to have served as Miss Rome.

The local pageant honors Frazier annually by giving a talent award at the Miss Rome pageant named in Frazier’s memory.

Some of the items that are included in the exhibit are Frazier’s official Miss Georgia portrait, her crown and both the evening gown and talent jumpsuit Frazier wore in the Miss America Pageant, along with the Miss Georgia Pageant program from the year she gave up her crown. Various photographs from the year of her reign as Miss Georgia are also included in the historical display.

A half dozen young women will vie for the Miss Rome 2020 crown this weekend, including Carley Vogel, 18, a student at Montclair State University; Sarah Templeton, 18, enrolled at the University of Georgia; Ansleigh Williams, 20, a student at the University of North Georgia; Fallon Robinson, 18, who attends Oglethorpe University; Rosa Campos, 24, who goes to Brenau University and Olivia Crumbly, 17, from Armuchee High School.

The pageant Saturday night begins at 7 p.m.

https://www.mdjonline.com/neighbor_newspapers/news/state/miss-georgia-frances-frazier-honored-with-exhibit-at-rome-area/article_8d205d4a-bf9c-55a0-aa0e-93086f6466a3.html