Maria Beale Fletcher was Miss America 1962. Fletcher was born to Charles "Beale" and Margaret Gatley Fletcher, who were the founders of the Asheville-area Fletcher School of Dance and the Land of the Sky Civic Ballet. She has one brother named Walter and two sisters named Margaret and Bonnie. She is from Asheville, North Carolina, and was a graduate of A.C. Reynolds High School. She worked as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette prior to winning the crown. She was the Miss America Preliminary Competition swimsuit winner, and her overseas tour included visits to 31 Army hospitals and Servicemen's Clubs. During the late 1960s, Fletcher served as co-host of The Noon Show on Nashville, Tennessee television station WSM. 

June 23rd, 1942 in Asheville (Age 82)