Irma Nydia Vázquez
Irma Nydia Vázquez, (June 08, 1929 - May 02, 2019) was Puerto Rico's representative (as Miss Puerto Rico) to the 1948 Miss America pageant. Although Malen Pietrantoni started Puerto Rico's annual participation in the event in 1937[1][2]as "Miss Puerto Rico"[3][4], and Zulma Caballero Lopez participated in 1938,[5] Vázquez is nonetheless generally credited with being the first Puerto Rican contestant in the event,[6][7] which required all contestants[8] to sign a contract which then required that "contestant must be in good health and of the white race."[9]
Life
The daughter of an industrialist and sister of a future Puerto Rico Secretary of State, she was the second wife of Puerto Rican singer and composer Bobby Capó,[10] a marriage initially opposed by her family but which lasted 25 years during which they had 5 children.[11] Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico,[12] to Pedro Vázquez, the founder of professional baseball in Puerto Rico, and Genoveva Vázquez, a seamstress who designed former First Lady Ines Maria Mendoza's dress during the White House gala hosted by President Kennedy at which cellist Pablo Casals performed.
References
- "Miss America 1937 Candidates". Miss America 2.0. 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- NEWS, Pageants. "Destiny Vélez is Miss Puerto Rico 2015". Pageants News. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- Montcourt, Nahira (2019-12-08). "Memoria Viva: La búsqueda incansable de la belleza puertorriqueña". Noticel. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- "Pictured wearing the hats given them by Malen Pietrantoni, "Miss..." Getty Images. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- "Miss America 1938 Candidates". Miss America 2.0. 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- "Irma Nydia Vázquez la primera boricua en Miss América". Primera Hora. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- "Muere la abuela del cantante Pedro Capó". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- "Miss America 1948 Candidates". Miss America 2.0. 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- "1948 Pageant Contract | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
- Báez, Nancy Abreu (2019-06-28). "He sido el incomprendido: la historia de Bobby Capó by Víctor Federico Torres (review)". Caribbean Studies. 47 (1): 158–161. doi:10.1353/crb.2019.0012. ISSN 1940-9095.
- "Irma Nydia Vazquez". ObitTree.com. Retrieved 17 January 2020.