Marilyn Jent, a 72-year-old Jasper resident, has never let age limit her or hold her back from her dreams.
One of those dreams was to become a pageant queen.
“I was in my doctor’s office one day, and I saw a magazine where a lady had been in a state pageant, and I thought, ‘You know, I’d like to do that.’ Sadly, my sister who was a year and a half younger than me passed away due to cancer in 2017. One of the last conversations we had was at our last sister day together,” Jent said, tearfully. “I told her that I was thinking about entering a pageant, and she told me I should do it. My other sister lives in Las Vegas, and I needed a community of sisters — not that anyone could replace my sisters, but in the pageant system you join a sisterhood where everyone supports each other. I needed that.”
Jent competed in six state pageants before being invited to participate in Ms. Senior World.
“I’ve never won, but I’ve made major, major improvement, learned I can do hard things and found that I have some talent,” she said.
Jent recently competed in Ms. Senior World, which was held in Biloxi, Miss. Participants in Ms. Senior World are all given a title, crown and sash upon entering and compete together. There are also activities for the ladies to participate in throughout the week.
Jent’s title was Ms. Alabama World 70s.
“It was such an amazing experience. I can’t say enough good things about it, still glowing from being there,” she said.
Jent certainly had an action-packed week at Ms. Senior World. Monday began with pageant check-in and a cocktail event where Jent met her fellow “sister-queens.” On Tuesday, she met the mayor of Biloxi and got to do some sight-seeing in Ocean Springs. The Tuesday sight-seeing and shopping helped her bond with her fellow participants before the real work of the pageant began. Wednesday all participants had interviews, and Thursday was the pageant rehearsal.
In their interviews, all participants discussed their platforms for change, causes that they were passionate about.
“My platform is giving free bicycle helmets to children. There’s almost 3,000 kids who die in the U.S. every year from head injuries. Bicycle helmets help protect kids when they’re riding bikes and other things, but also in weather events,” Jent said.
Jent started giving out bicycle helmets to kids in September 2022 and has given out 150 helmets in that time.
“I gave a whole kindergarten class some, and I’ve given at a car show and a community event. My church has a big serve day once a year, and my first helmets were given out then,” she said. “A lot of these kids had never gotten anything new, and they were so proud of their helmets that they didn’t even want us to take the cardboard packaging off.”
Jent said safety holds a special place in her heart because she is a retired nurse.
Jent is also passionate about POUND, a type of workout that she enjoys. The workout classes consist of drumming, cardio and strength training.
“Stone Phillips teaches POUND at the Fitness Factory in Jasper, and it is the most fun thing,” Jent said. “It’s a 45-minute, total body workout, and I can’t get it perfect like Stone does, but I enjoy it. I get my husband to do it, too! I did it for the pageant with a lot of drumsticks, and that was fun!”
Jent initially got into POUND when looking for a fun way to stay active after hip replacement surgery.
“I’ve had both of my hips replaced, and they let you do continual maintenance if you want to — walking the treadmill or riding bikes, but I wanted to add something to it,” she said. “I was looking for Zumba, or something like that, and I thought POUND sounded so fun.”
Jent highly recommended state pageants and Ms. Senior World.
“It’s a program where women build and support women,” she said. “I can’t say enough about either. I have met the most wonderful people and had the most wonderful experiences.”
