Jeanne (who also goes by Joan) Hart of Sudbury has never been a beauty queen herself, but thanks to her work behind the scenes at pageants, she's done some pretty amazing things.
As a chaperone, she's accompanied pageant winners on overseas trips and even had breakfast with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip during the royal couple's 1984 visit to Sudbury.
Starting in the early 1970s, she's pretty much been involved in every aspect of pageanting from the local to the national level, from organizing and judging to doing participants' hair and makeup.
Hart, who to this day holds the position of regional co-ordinator and delegates manager for eastern Ontario and Quebec with Miss Universe Canada, was honoured by that pageant this past summer.
On Aug. 17, during the final competition at the Miss Universe Canada pageant, she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for 45 years of service to the pageant (and its predecessors).
Hart said the award came as a “big surprise.”
She was helping the contestants with things like broken zippers that day when a beautician offered to do her hair and makeup as a special treat.
Hart was then encouraged to go backstage to watch the contestants on stage, and that's when she was called on stage to receive the award. “When I heard that, I thought I was dreaming,” she said.
“All of a sudden I realize all of the memories it brought back right from the beginning,” Hart added. “I woke up one day and I realized 'Oh, it's 45 years.' The time went so fast.”
She said she first got involved in pageants in 1973 with the Miss Northern Ontario pageant, a feeder pageant for the Miss Canada pageant.
A teacher by trade, she was also trained in fashion design, hair and makeup, and had modelled in her youth, hence her interest in pageanting.
Now 84 years old, Hart said she thinks she has at least five more years in her in terms of being involved in the pageant industry.
Asked if the pageant contestants think of her as a “grandma,” Hart said they actually don't treat her like one.
“They seem to treat me like I'm half my age,” she said. “They'll always say 'Why don't you wear my heels?' They're six-to-eight inch heels with a big platform. Or they'll say 'I just got this new dress, why don't you wear that?'
“I'll say 'Thank you so much, but I think I would stand out too much.' Most of them don't know what age I am. I just leave it at that.”
