Nina Holden, VHS 1961 Miss Victoria 1961
Nina Holden, VHS 1961 Miss Victoria 1961
Miss Canada 1962
Nina Holden was crowned Miss Victoria in 1961, a month before she graduated from Vic High and just two years after Vivi Pettersen won the title in 1959. She, like Vivi, was chosen as the runner-up to the 1962 Miss Canada. However she was later called up to replace the original winner and served for two years when a change in pageant ownership meant there was no 1963 pageant.
Nina was an active, popular student at Vic High. She had been Grade 11 Class Rep in both Grade 11 and Grade 12. She was a valued member of the Cheerleading Squad and belonged to the Future Teachers Club, the Grad Choir, and the Badminton team. She was also one of the school Prefects, students who exercised leadership in the school and often acted as mentors to other students.
Here’s her grad write-up in the 1961 Camosun yearbook:
Our sweet and sassy, pert class rep is one of those Prefects who offers her talents to cheerleaders, OOKs, Social Committee, Badminton, Future Teachers, and Grad Choir. Nina plans to be an airline stenographer.
And in a typical quirky Vic High connection, current Vic High alumna Linda Baker, VHS 1969, was volunteered by her dad, a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce that produced the annual Jaycee Fair, to be one of the two flower girls that year. They rode with Nina to the Legislature for her official crowning, and on Victoria Day, rode on the Miss Victoria float in the Victoria Day Parade.
Nina was featured in a full-page spread in the Victoria Daily Times, May 19, 1962, surrounded by past Miss Victoria winners, including the 1959 winner, Vic High’s Vivi Pettersen, shown on the left, third photo from the top.
In 2017, four Miss Canada winners, including Nina, reunited in Qualicum Beach. Here’s the story.
PARKSVILLE – QUALICUM BEACH NEWS July 5, 2017
Former Miss Canada winners grace Shady Rest with their presence
Mini reunion of the four ex-beauty queens had heads turning.
Former Miss Canada winners (left to right) Julie Maloney (1969), Barbara Kelly (1967), Nina (Holden) Ritchie (1962) and Gillian Regehr (1973) held their mini reunion at the Shady Rest Pub in Qualicum Beach on Canada Day. — Michael Briones photo
Four former Miss Canada winners had heads turning at the Shady Rest Pub in Qualicum Beach on Canada Day. Miss Canada 1962 Nina Ritchie, Miss Canada ’67 Barbara Kelly, Miss Canada ’70 Julie Maloney and Miss Canada ’73 Gillian Regehr held a mini-reunion at the popular restaurant and they certainly drew a lot of attention. Of course, they were hard to miss with their original sashes draped over their shoulders.
The occasion was a simple get-together, just to have lunch. There was no grand preparation nor the usual pomp and circumstance that one would expect for a group of former Miss Canada winners. “It’s just a gathering of friends,” said Ritchie, a former Miss Victoria who now lives in Qualicum Beach. “We are a rare sisterhood.”
Although each one won in a different year, they have met each other in past Miss Canada reunions and through their involvement with the pageant. They forged a special friendship and have kept in touch throughout the years. They have always wanted to have their own small reunion, said Kelly, and decided to make it happen on July 1, on Canada’s 150th anniversary. It wasn’t easy because Maloney had to fly from Ottawa to be in Qualicum Beach. Regehr resides in Victoria while Kelly is from Vancouver.
“We are all excited to be here together,” said Kelly. “We are going to share stories and also look at photographs.” And they had a lot of stories to tell. Kelly related the time when she was to meet the Queen mother during her reign. She was handed a crash course on royal etiquette that include learning how to curtsy properly and also answer with “yes, your majesty.”
Ritchie, a former Miss Victoria ’61, revealed she did not actually win Miss Canada in 1962. She was the runner-up, but landed the crown when the winner gave up her title. She reigned for almost two years.
All four elegant ladies competed in the prestigious Miss Canada pageant for one reason only. They were enticed by the scholarship prize. The coupe de grace of the lunch was when they took out their headgears or crowns to show one another. They didn’t have the same kind of lustre and glitter when they won them, but they are sentimental treasures. Maloney was bit embarrassed by the shape of her crown. “Mine is so banged up,” Maloney quipped. “My grandchildren played with it and I had to crazy glue it back together.”
The group plans to get together again next year. They plan to get in touch with other former Miss Canada winners.
Nina lives in Qualicum Beach and recently visited the Vic High Archives & Museum, posing with her official portrait which resides permanently in the Archives.
Grad write-up
PS We can’t figure out what “OOK” in her grad write-up stands for…if you know, please email us and we’ll update this story. Thanks!