Background
Yolande Margaret Betbeze was born on November 29, 1928 in Mobile, Alabama, to William, a butcher, and Ethel Betbeze of Mobile.
Yolande Margaret Betbeze was born on November 29, 1928 in Mobile, Alabama, to William, a butcher, and Ethel Betbeze of Mobile.
Betbeze was raised in a strict Roman Catholic family of French Basque descent, and she attended convent schools.
In 1950, Fox (then Betbeze) entered Mission Alabama for the scholarship opportunities the pageant presented. The Mission America Organization has claimed that Fox"s (then Betbeze"s) actions were pivotal in directing pageant progress towards recognizing intellect, values, and leadership abilities, rather than focusing on beauty alone. Fox was active in the feminist movement.
After her one-year reign as Mission America, she served as an ambassador to Paris.
Was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Congress of Racial Equality (Congress of Racial Equality), and SANE (The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy). And studied philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Fox was an opera singer and did gain a reputation in that area. She continued to sing, appearing with the Mobile Opera Guild (now the Mobile Opera), and helped found an off-Broadway theater.
She captured her first crown in 1949 when she won Mobile"s "Mission Torch" pageant. As Mission Alabama, she traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to compete in the Mission America 1951 pageant. Having been educated in a convent school, she was reluctant to pose in a swimsuit and refused to do so after she won Mission America. That led the swimsuit company, Catalina, to withdraw their sponsorship of the Mission America pageant and eventually brought about the creation of the rival Mission United States of America pageant. Fox"s Mission America title, although won in 1950, was for 1951 and is the first Mission America title to be "postdated" in this manner. Due to the change, there was no Mission America 1950. From then on the Mission America pageant concentrated more on scholarship than beauty.
