Venus Ramey, a native Kentuckian and Miss America for 1944, during a brief stop in Lexington in December 1944. At left is Ramey’s father, J.C. Ramey, of Waynesburg, and at right is her brother, J.W. Ramey. Ramey was born Sept. 26, 1924, in Ashland. She left the state to work for the war effort in Washington. She won the Miss District of Columbia pageant and then became Miss America. She was the first red-haired contestant to win the title. In 2007, on her farm in Lincoln County, at age 82 and balancing with a walker, she used a .38-caliber handgun to shoot out the tires of a car belonging to an intruder. She held the man until police arrived. She later appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, who asked her where she learned to shoot. “I’m from Kentucky,” she replied. Published in the Lexington Herald on Dec. 1, 1944. Herald-Leader Archive Photo