I just learned from Chris Custin, the Historian for the Metropolitan Owners Club of North America, that Evelyn Ay Sempier, Miss America 1954, died last Saturday.

Courtesy of David Austin

Evelyn was special to Metropolitan fans, because Nash sponsored the Miss America contest when she was crowned. Nash called upon her to officially "unveil" the Metropolitan to the public at the Chicago Auto Show in early 1954. She also bought (with some of her Miss America prize money) one of the early Metropolitan convertibles for her brother.

Evelyn Ay Sempier when Torq-O spoke with her: July 12th, 1997

Back in 1997, we started to interview all of the surviving participants in the design, building, and selling of the Metropolitan. Evelyn was our second interview.

We went to her home near Philadelphia and spent the afternoon of July 12th, 1997, talking to her about her association with the pageant and with Nash. We shot about four hours of footage with her.

My favorite anecdote that she shared with us was about a typical day in the life of Miss America: always smiling, sleeping on the plane, riding in Nash Ambassadors, breathless, hungry, expected to have opinions on world hunger, Communism, crop rotation, and juvenile delinquency.

She was a class act through and through. Generous with her time. Perfect and articulate with her answers. Patient with our process. A wonderful lady. Farewell.