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.
She died May 2, 2019 in Hackettsown, New Jersey.[13]
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.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Irma Nydia Vazquez". ObitTree.com. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ "Irma Nydia Vazquez Obituary - Passaic, NJ | ObitTree™". obittree.com. Retrieved 2020-07-23.