AURORA
The women were loosely arranged in two lines, smiling and swaying, twirling matching pink scarves over their heads. Abba’s “Dancing Queen” played softly in the background as they clicked around in shiny high heels, giving each other air hugs and acting out silent conversations.
A Colorado Sun series. Read more.Colorado is getting older, rapidly. Are we prepared? We’re taking a look at how these shifting demographics are affecting housing, the workforce and quality of life, and whether Colorado has the services needed for people to age in place.
Follow along“Get off the stage!” a curly-haired woman hollered, charging toward them. The music cut.
The women, giddy and unfazed, scuttled to the sides of the room.
They weren’t on a stage.
They were in a children’s dance studio in Aurora, two short weeks away from the real stage, at the Elaine Wolf Theater in Denver, for the 31st annual Miss Colorado Senior Pageant.
The pageant is a qualifier for the national Miss Senior America competition, where contestants who “have reached the age of elegance” — 60 years or older — compete in four events: interviews, evening gowns, talent and “philosophy of life” articulated in a 35-second statement of values and beliefs.
“We all grew up with, ‘here she comes, Miss America,’” said Judy Rowe, the curly-haired stage director and vice president of Miss Colorado Senior.
Terrilynn Moore-Smith cheers “let’s go girls!” during a rehearsal for this year’s Miss Colorado Senior America Pageant on April 14 at Miller’s Dance Studio in Aurora. The phrase is not only a cue for the next step in the choreography, but the group’s motto. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)Miss America, queen of queens, is a title that has been awarded to one woman nearly every year since 1921. Contestants in Miss America compete for scholarship money and funding for a charity of choice — as opposed to the Miss USA. competition, a 1950s spinoff that awards cold, hard cash — and embark on a national publicity tour to promote an issue close to their heart (Miss America 2025 chose cystic fibrosis).
The typical Miss America is beautiful, hard working, inspirational — also unmarried and childless. Until 2014 contestants had to sign a contract declaring they’d never been pregnant. Miss USA, the spinoff, has even more stringent standards for its contestants’ age, looks and marital status.
The women of Miss Senior America, though, have lived their lives. They’re married, divorced, widowed. They show up with children and grandchildren in tow, shouts of “I love you mom!” ring out from the audience.
LEFT: Diane Plassmeyer plays a trombone medley. RIGHT: Operatic singer Tessie Koency performs “Solamente Una Vez (You’ll Always Belong in My Heart)”. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)
The oldest Colorado Senior contestant was 94 years old — the other contestants “took her under their wing, treated her like their grandmother,” pageant administrator Rene Green said. The oldest competitor at the national pageant was 99, Green added. (The pageant does not disclose its contestants’ ages).
Colorado is now the third fastest aging state in the nation, with one-quarter of the population projected to be over the age of 60 by 2050. In 2022 this realization prompted an update to the Older Coloradans Act, originally passed in 1973, as well as the launch of the Lifelong Colorado Initiative, which lays out a multifaceted plan to support aging in the state.
Among those facets is “social participation,” which studies have shown can buffer older adults from cognitive decline, mental health problems and the effects of loneliness.
“In a couple words, social connection is ‘very important,’” said Niccole Nelson, faculty member at the CSU Center for Healthy Aging. “Living alone, lacking social connection and feeling lonely increase one’s odds of mortality by 30%. So that’s quite a powerful predictor of healthy aging.”
Joining the club
Rowe competed in the pageant in 2009 and was first runner up. She’s been working for the organization ever since. Most of the women who compete stay involved well beyond the pageant itself, working with the tightknit leadership team or performing with the year round dance troupes.
The daughter of a dancer, Rowe started performing young, moved from dance to theater in her 30s, then took up singing lessons in her 50s. Now in her 80s, Rowe’s performing schedule is fuller than ever.
Talent coach Judy Rowe, the 2009 First Runner-up Miss Colorado Senior, suggests a change to contestant Michelle Hampton’s talent performance during rehearsal for this year’s Miss Colorado Senior America Pageant. Rowe encourages Hampton to add “attitude” to the lyrics “Can I fix you a quick martini? As a matter of fact, I’ll have one with you.” (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)“Being older, we’re memorizing lines, we’re memorizing dance steps. Nothing can be better. It’s a dream come true,” Rowe said. “I tell people that I never made it to Broadway, but I made it to Broadway and Colfax.”
In Aurora, the women take turns rehearsing their talent for Rowe, who watches through squinting, discerning eyes, her concentration marked by a slight nod of approval, or a silent mouthing of lyrics.
As serious as she is when the music comes on, between sets, Rowe is delightful. She compliments the women generously, tells them they’re fabulous, gushes about how much progress they are making.
But then she cues the next woman, and it’s back to business.
A contestant, Pat Feigin, practices her monologue for Rowe. It’s a comedy about Feigin’s harrowing escape from a nursing home. Partway through the act, someone lets out a small laugh from the side of the room. Feigin acknowledges the laugh with a quick point and a wink.
“You don’t have time for that,” Rowe scolds. The women have exactly two minutes and forty-five seconds to get through their talent act. “Save that. You can do that when we’re performing for the nursing homes.”
LEFT: Contestant Pat Feigin performs a comedic telling of “My Great Escape” during rehearsal for this year’s Miss Colorado Senior America Pageant. RIGHT: Showtimne, as Feigin performs “My Great Escape” during the talent competition. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)
Performing for nursing homes is just one of the myriad activities that the women engage in once they’re part of “the club.” That’s what they all call it: the club. The club of Miss Colorado Seniors, past and present, who travel around the state performing hourlong sets of song, dance and storytelling. They’re hired by nursing homes and fundraising events, and use the money to rent out their theater for the pageant each year.
They also do charity walks together — “the Alzheimer’s walk, that one was kind of fun,” Green said — and present trophies at dog shows and judge the annual Little Miss Valentine pageant in Loveland. They do fashion shows, show up for senior days at the state Capitol, and roll down 17th Street during the National Western Stock Show Parade.
“When you perform on stage together, you become like a graduating class. You build a bond, you’re getting dressed and undressed backstage, you’re working together,” Green said. “Unfortunately there are some bad times that happen. And when you’re by yourself, you need those bonds.”
They also go to funerals together.
“The reason why something like Alcoholics Anonymous works is that when someone walks in and says ‘I’m having a hard time not drinking,’ the person across from them says ‘I know,’” said Rowe, who attended AA meetings with her late husband. “It’s the same thing here. No one can understand what it’s like to lose your spouse until someone has gone through it.”
From left: Kelly Calabrese, Terrilynn Moore-Smith and Juanita Chacon fix makeup and don jewelry in the dressing room during the Miss Colorado Senior America Pageant dress rehearsal on April 25 at the Elaine Wolf Theater in Denver. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)The state’s latest 10-year plan for aging includes a lot of strategies to help Coloradans access important services like health care, meal delivery, affordable housing and reliable transportation. There are sections that address qualitative initiatives, too, like making sure seniors have access to civic and social opportunities, and reducing ageism across the state.
But the only mention of spousal death, a singular calamity with untold health impacts, is tucked into a section about property tax exemptions.
According to studies, the risk of mortality in recently widowed partners increases significantly in the six months following the death of a spouse. This phenomenon is known as “the widowhood effect,” and though it is widely observed, it is not well understood, though one study called it “one of the best documented examples of the effect of social relations on health.”
The National Council on Aging recommends seeking social support to cope with a death, including reaching out to friends and family, “joining a book club, taking a fitness class, or participating in activities at your local community or senior center.”
“It’s a group of women to have fun with, but it’s also a group of women you can turn to when you’re going through a death, when you’re going through cancer,” Rowe said. “What you’re doing is including yourself in a group of older women who have gone through things that nobody in the other age groups has.”
Changing perceptions
Another aspect of the state’s Multi-Sector Plan on Aging is to combat ageism, which includes decreasing discrimination in the workplace, and partnering with the NextFifty Foundation, a private foundation tasked with engaging media and thought leaders to change the way society perceives aging.
“One of the most common misconceptions about aging is that it’s associated with disease, and that it’s an imperfection of humanity,” Nelson, the CSU researcher, said. “That’s one of the most harmful ideas out there.”
She means that literally. Ageism is shown to have far-ranging impacts on seniors, from the psychological — and financial — toll of buying into the multi-billion dollar “anti-aging” industry, to more deeply troubling effects like being less likely to receive appropriate health care.
Charlie Myers tap dances to a medley of songs during the talent competition. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)Some studies have shown that even one’s perception of aging can have a long term impact on health — one study followed hundreds of Ohio residents over a 20 year period and concluded that the median survival of those with positive beliefs about aging was seven and a half years longer than those with negative beliefs.
“Another major misconception is that we have no control over aging,” Nelson said. “Of course, we don’t have complete control, genetics play a role, but we have some control. Social connectiveness is a part of that, the extent to which you’re engaging with your community.”
The equation isn’t as simple as: social=good, solo=bad, Nelson cautioned.
“It’s complicated,” she said. “Not all social interaction is positive,” for one. And, “everybody measures things in different ways, so looking at objective isolation versus feelings of loneliness, those two things tell a different story. They’re both indicators of mortality, but someone can be isolated and not feel lonely. And vice versa.”
Contestant Tracey Drayton, center left, introduces herself during the Miss Colorado Senior America Pageant 2025 dress rehearsal.(Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)After Green’s husband died she poured herself into her job with the market analysis company Standard & Poor’s, better known by its Wall Street moniker, S&P. Then in 2015, after 20 years with the company, she was laid off.
“It was like another death,” Green said. She mourned the loss, then decided “there are only so many reruns you can watch,” and started taking up new hobbies. In 2016 she participated in the Miss Senior pageant, and was hooked. She travels regularly now and has a phone book full of Miss Seniors from all over the country.
She also picked up the violin, took up photography and started “rediscovering” places she’d visited in Colorado years before.
“I remember climbing up Vail Pass, and these young people passed me going up the hill, then came back down within a half hour, meanwhile I’m sitting at the creekside watching butterflies, taking pictures,” she said. “I was once in my 30s and 40s, running around my corporate life. But being a senior, you have that time to look around and really appreciate the world. It’s like you see different colors.”
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