About Us
Prepare strong women for the world.
prepare the world for strong women.
Prepare Strong Women for the The World. Prepare the World for Strong Women. This is the mission of the Miss America Organization.
The Miss Grays Harbor Scholarship Organization (MGHSO) is a strong, community-based scholarship competition for women ages 19-28 to expand their quest for knowledge, serve their communities and acquire skills to better equip them for future opportunities. Since its inception in 1948, it has provided thousands of dollars in scholarship funds due to the generosity of local sponsors. MGHSO is one of the longest running local preliminaries in the country, with titleholders going on to compete for Miss Washington and Miss America. The program grew to include a teen competition in 2007. The Teen program is for teens 14-18 and is an official preliminary to Miss America's Teen.
Our Story
The first Miss Grays Harbor was crowned in April of 1948.
Miss Grays Harbor 1948, Lorraine Lowder won the state title and was crowned Miss Washington 1948.
On April 25, 1949, Lorraine crowned Mary Hansmann, Miss Grays Harbor 1949. Mary went on to compete in the Miss Washington Pageant in June of that year, however Miss Cowlitz County, Libby Aldrich was crowned Miss Washington 1949.
There was then a 10 year hiatus where no pageant was held, although financial problems with the State program in 1949 may have led this hiatus. The pageant returned again in 1959 and Lynne Ross was crowned Miss Grays Harbor.
Miss Grays Harbor 1961, Gail Hannuk of Aberdeen went on to become Miss Washington 1961 . There was no titleholder for 1963, but the program has continued virtually without interruption since 1964. Sometime in 1990 or 1991 there was a change of pageant dates so Miss Grays Harbor would serve the year following her crowning in the same style as Miss America. Therefore Miss Grays Harbor 1990, Melinda Reynvaan extended her reign into 1991.
In 2004 a second title was added as Miss Pacific Coast. This title was held until 2007.
In February 2020, Courtney Glenn was crowned and due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, will retain the title until February 2022.
Miss Grays Harbor’s Outstanding Teen was started in 2007 as the junior competition to the Miss Grays Harbor Program and a preliminary to Miss America’s Outstanding Teen and as such aims to “promote scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, healthy living and community involvement for America’s teens.” The first competition was held in 2007 with Connie Morgan winning the title.
Visit our Past Titleholders page to read about our legacy of almost 75 years.
Executive director
Missy Smith - Executive Director
