LAWTON, Okla_Whoever said
life starts at 30 hasn't met Debbie Hudson of Lawton. She's an artist, a doll maker, a
boutique owner and a 64 year old beauty queen. Her life has taken a few tragic
turns but they've all landed her a couple of crowns. She holds two pageant titles
and competes on the platform called "Matters of the Heart" and her
story certainly qualifies her.
This is a new
stage of life for Debbie. In fact, she's won both her titles this past year.
She had no intention of walking any stages, until a friend encouraged her to
join her in a pageant. She did it for fun and ended up winning, all the while
encouraging women join together and smile even when it's hard.
Although her
gown is stunning and her tiara, a beautiful conversation piece, her platform
takes the focus away from the glitz and the glamour and puts it on women
building positive relationships with one another during hard times.
"Women
need other women to come along beside them and help them when they're going
through cancer or divorce or they're hurting because of physical needs and I
have a compassion for people that are hurting."
Hudson said her
compassion stems from her own hurt. Her son was murdered over road rage at 26. She
said the pain of his loss was eased just knowing that she loved him
unconditionally.
"I never
had anything that after he was gone I said oh gee I wish I told him this or I
wish I had done that or I wish we hadn't done this or had this argument, I
didn't have anything I had regrets for."
Then out of
nowhere, last October, her husband narrowly survived a quadruple bypass.
"He just
went in for an angioplasty and the surgeon came in and said we have to take him
straight into surgery we can't even wait until morning because he's 99%
blocked."
Her husband is
alive and well today and incredibly proud of his beauty queen. With or without
the crown, Debbie is an inspiration to hurting women everywhere, even though
she's already taken the title, her mission to bring women together to conquer
pain still stands.
"You need
to find someone that come along beside you and tell them how you're feeling if
you're hurting if you need some or if you need something to eat or say I'm
praying for you."
Debbie said two
pageants are enough. She's done competing, but says she'll continue to spread
her message and continue to lean on the positive women in her life to get her
through any hard times that may lay ahead.
