Seventy-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old statuesque beauty from Pittsylvania County was chosen Miss Virginia 1936 at a state-wide competition in Charlottesville. She went on to compete in the Miss United States contest in Biloxi, Mississippi where she won the title of “Miss Perfect Figure.”
Barbara White Hodnett, the daughter of Helena Alice and Benton Withers Hodnett, earlier had been named “Miss Pittsylvania County.” She was a senior at Chatham High School where she was editor-in-chief of the school’s annual and president of a school society.
She went on to a screen test at Universal Studios in Hollywood and became a model for Max Factor Cosmetics and The Saturday Evening Post. Born February 28, 1920, she would marry Edward Allen Hall, a Pan American Airline pilot, on November 16, 1938. Barbara and Ed had two children, Gary Allen and Edward Allen.
Unfortunately, the Miss Virginia web site lists another young lady as the winner in 1936 although her sash does not reveal the year. Apparently, Barbara is not recognized because no records show her as a competitor in the Miss America contest. However, local newspaper articles have her competing in both the Miss United States and Miss America contests, the latter being advertised as held in Atlanta. And her sash clearly says 1936. It is clear from a picture in the Richmond News Leader in December that Barbara was the winner of a state-wide beauty contest. She is shown under the headline “Tops in Pulchritude — Miss Virginia 1936.” The article lists Miss Adeline Duke (“Miss Charlottesville”) as the runner up and Little Miss Terry Tilman as the winner in the Shirley Temple competition.
Barbara and Ed lived in various cities across the United States, Ed flying for the airline and Barbara continuing her career as a model in numerous advertisements in newspapers and magazines. They reportedly once lived in Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West, Florida before settling in West Palm Beach in the Sunshine State. As a youngster, Barbara had lived with her parents in Danville and Chatham, Virginia; Florida; and Washington, D.C. After her husband died, Mrs. Hodnett (Barbara’s mother) moved to Florida and lived with her daughter until she died in 1974.
Note: According to research by Pittsylvania Historical Society member Linda Yeatts Brown, Barbara White Hodnett died on February 20, 2008 in Fort Myers, Florida.
Information for this article was developed by Marilyn Jane (Midgie) Ergenbright, who like the author, is Barbara’s cousin. At this point, the trail for the search of information has temporarily ended, but both Midgie and the author thought recognition of Barbara was long overdue. Some years back, Midgie and her older brother Pete (now deceased) knocked on the Halls’ door in Florida and when Barbara answered the door they serenaded her with “There She Is, Miss Virginia.” They knew who the winner was in 1936, even if others didn’t. (Barbara, Midgie, and Carl trace their White roots to Chatham. They, along with many others, are the great-grandchildren of Mary Helena and James Farthing. The latter is the subject of a soon-to-be published book written by Carl Sell that traces Farthing’s four years as an infantryman in the Civil War. He was wounded twice, once during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg; hospitalized on two other occasions; and captured nine days before the war ended. He survived to return home to Pittsylvania County, marry and father one daughter Mary Ellice, who in turn married Isaac Lindow White and had thirteen children including the parents of Barbara, Midgie and Carl. But that’s getting ahead of the story you can read all about in the forthcoming book entitled Thank God He Survived.
Note: A version of this article first appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of The Pittsylvania Packet, which is a quarterly published by The Pittsylvania Historical Society.
Author Carl Sell lives in Franconia, Virginia. He can be contacted via email.