Mary Leona Gage

Who was Mary Leona Gage?

Mary Leona Gage (April 8, 1939 – October 5, 2010) was an American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1957, the first from Maryland to capture the Miss USA crown. She was stripped of her title when it was revealed that she was 18, married, and the mother of two sons. Her father, paralyzed in an industrial accident, stayed home. At her mother's insistence, the marriage to Thacker was annulled within the week. She was a toddler when her parents moved from Longview, Texas to Wichita Falls. She was 13 years old when she met 24-year-old Gene Ennis, an airman in the U.S. Air Force. When Gage became pregnant and attempted to write to Ennis after he shipped out, he never responded. A drugstore employee who was getting married suggested she should get married with a volunteer groom.

Gage agreed and they headed to Oklahoma for a double wedding. She married an airman named Edward Thacker. She had their second son at age 16.

Historical significance

When Ennis came back into her life in 1953, Gage, still only 14, married him in Wichita Falls; they moved to Manhattan Beach, Maryland (near Severna Park).