When Angelita Diaz, Miss Bermuda in 1983, handed the crown over to her successor, Rhonda Wilkinson at the then Southampton Princess, little did either of them know that they would become the best of friends 20 years later... many miles away from home!

They grew up in St. George's, and were at Howard University at the same time, but it wasn't until they lived 15 minutes from each other in Baltimore, Maryland that their friendship grew stronger.

“In moving from Laurel, Maryland to Catonsville in Baltimore I came across a little square ‘stickie', a little pink piece of paper, with Rhonda's name on it and a phone number that I had had for years and years,” explained Mrs. Diaz-Douglass.

“When I got settled up in Baltimore months had gone by and I still had this piece of paper. I said I'm going to call it and see if it works. I called the number and she answered the phone. She could have moved anywhere but it just so happened that she was still there.

“I said ‘Rhonda?' and she said ‘Angelita?' and I said yes! She said ‘where are you?' and I said ‘where are you?'.

“She said ‘I'm in Owings Mills, Maryland' and I said ‘I'm down here in Baltimore County' She said, ‘well, that's 20 minutes away, I'll be right over'! “She got in her car, picked up the children from school and brought them over to meet me and we've been together ever since.”

Rhonda remembers getting Angelita's number around 1993, but they lost contact with each other until 2001. Prior to that they were both at Howard University in the mid-1980s, even taking a chemistry class together.

“We were both struggling together, trying to help each other out,” Rhonda recalled.

There are other coincidences to the story. As well as being from St. George's, both also work in the health care profession, Mrs. Diaz-Douglass is a dental hygienist and Mrs. Jackson a nurse. Both are also married and with two children.

“When Rhonda and I are together we go right back to St. George's, everything just flows so nicely,” said Mrs. Diaz-Douglas who was back visiting Bermuda last week with her husband John and two children Phillip, three, and Emily who is six months.

“Rhonda took time off (work) to raise her own children (Briana now 11 and James Jr., seven) and now I'm going through what she has already been through, so I'm leaning on her a lot as far as having problems juggling my time with the children. She would say ‘i'll come sit with the children, you go do what you have to do'.

“It's really like we never left St. George's. The things we do for each other are the things that we are used to, the things we grew up with. The relationship has grown to the point where we have asked Rhonda to be Emily's godmother.

“It's been a huge blessing in my life to have Rhonda. I think so highly of her and she is such a good person. Getting to know her in Baltimore is different than I even knew her in Bermuda.”

Mrs. Jackson feels the same way. “Sometimes I would give her a call for nothing and once I hang up I feel so good,” she said from her home in Maryland.

She remembers being looked after on occasion by a lady in St. David's named Mearl Walters when she was about six. She was a friend of both her and Angelita's family and mentioned to Rhonda a little girl named Angelita who was about the same age.

“I was not happy, I thought she (Angelita) was going to spoil the fun we were having,” said Rhonda of the time she was spending with Mrs. Walters.

Ironically, it was from Mrs. Walters whom she got Angelita's phone number in 1993.

Both Mrs. Diaz-Douglass, a cousin of Miss Bermuda and Miss World 1979 Gina Swainson (their grandfathers Charles and Edward ‘Bosun' Swainson were brothers), and Mrs. Jackson find it difficult to believe it has been 20 years already since their beauty pageant winning days.

Both still have fond memories of their reign, in fact Mrs. Diaz-Douglass has ‘MissBermuda83' as part of her e-mail address.

“The same week before the (1984) competition the girls were going through their paces and as I was walking out the door I pulled her aside and told her ‘Rhonda, you've got this, girl',” recalled Mrs. Diaz-Douglass.

“So said so done. I reminded her of it and she said, ‘yeah, I remember'. When they called her name and I gave her my crown I was not surprised, not in the least. I was so happy for her.”

Added Mrs. Jackson: “When we lived in Bermuda we knew of each other but I never knew her as a friend until the pageant. I wasn't really expecting to win to be honest.

I was shocked I won, she gave me the crown and I remember saying ‘what am I supposed to do now'?

“After that we bumped into each other at Howard.”

Both were reluctant participants in the Miss Bermuda competition, during a period when St. George's produced a number of winners after Gina Swainson's success on the world stage.

“Sherrita Steede wanted to go into the Miss Bermuda Pageant and she wanted me to go in with her,” Mrs. Diaz-Douglass recollects.

“She was more into it than I was, I was just tagging along. I wasn't into the whole pageantry thing because I was going to Howard University later in the year. Sherrita won Miss Amita and Miss Tourism.”

Mrs. Jackson's aunt Brenda was the one who persuaded her to enter the ‘84 contest.

“She started it, saying ‘come on Rhonda, let's go this year'.” Mrs. Jackson recalled.

“It went on and on and on and then there was an application handed to me, so I figured why not. I used to be rather shy and figured this would help me come out of it.”

The ‘83 Miss Universe took place in St. Louis and the ‘84 contest in Miami. Both contestants also represented Bermuda at the Miss World contest in London.

“Before Miss Bermuda I was a very shy and introverted kind of person, I never said much and people would say I was attractive and I would never believe them,” said Mrs. Diaz-Douglass.

“When I won Miss Bermuda I blossomed, I became more extroverted.”

The last Miss Bermuda contest was staged in 1998, having lost much of its appeal even before then. It's future remains uncertain.

“I'm very disappointed about that, Rhonda too,” said Mrs. Diaz-Douglass.

“We both talked about it and we both wish we were here. If we were here together we would try to revamp the whole thing because it is a good experience.

“Even now, 20 years later, the opportunities for those girls are much bigger than they were for us. People look at performances in those pageants and look for potential models, potential actresses and you never know where it could take you.

“Like Sherrita, winning Miss Tourism sprung her off into her profession, which took her off to New York.”

She added: “Miss Bermuda is where I developed all of my national pride. Prior to that I didn't know much about Bermuda. My grandfather was a taxi driver and tour guide and he knew a lot of Bermuda history.

“Going to the pageants I would have to field questions about the Island, population, climate, Government and that is where I learned I had a voice.”

Mrs. Diaz-Douglass doesn't buy into the belief that there isn't another young girl in Bermuda who could be another Miss World.

“When I walk downtown in the middle of Hamilton I see women who are drop dead gorgeous,” she stated.

“These are young women but what are they aspiring to be, what are they doing, where are they going? These are the things that are going through my mind. Miss Bermuda gave women a little leverage to the potential out there.

“Jennifer Smith (who would later become Premier) was in charge of teaching us etiquette and poise and these are things I feel the girls benefit from, whether they win Miss Bermuda or not. Robert Horton (former teacher, now Permanent Secretary for Labour and Home Affairs) was in charge of teaching us how to speak and present ourselves to the public. All of that is gone now?”

Tuesday: Born into a prominent African-American family