Teresa Lynn McKay

Teresa (Terry) was shy for almost all of her teen years. She had a gap between her two front teeth and like any teen who suddenly has a zit (a pimple) on her face the night of the big dance she felt like no one saw anything but the gap in her teeth. That was, of course, false. She was a very pretty girl and none of her mother's (Patricia McKay) friends really even noticed her dental state unless she brought it up. Eventually, her mother decided to pay to have that gap closed. The change was a transformation. Suddenly she was filled with self-confidence. She entered the competition for Miss Calgary, her hometown. She claimed to have no talent of any kind. She did not play an instrument, she did not dance, she did not sing. A friend of her mother convinced her that anyone can act and coached her on transforming herself into an amalgam of the three witches from the opening scenes of Shakespeare's "Macbeth". She performed it in a raggedy costume with bare feet and claims that when the judges saw that she was not reluctant to envision herself, even in a "beauty" contest as a ratty old hag, that convinced them this was a girl with the self-confidence to wear the crown of the title without getting flustered in any situation. She continued up the ladder to win the Miss Canada pageant and wore the crown very well. She later married, moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she was also a host of a radio and television shows.