BeBe Shopp

Beatrice Bella "BeBe" Shopp (August 17, 1930 – October 4, 2025) was an American beauty pageant titleholder. From Hopkins, Minnesota, she was Miss America in 1948.^[2]

BeBe Shopp
Born	Beatrice Bella Shopp (1930-08-17)August 17, 1930 Hopkins, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	October 4, 2025(2025-10-04) (aged 95) Rockport, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Manhattan School of Music
Title	Miss Minnesota 1948 Miss America 1948
Predecessor	Barbara Jo Walker
Successor	Jacque Mercer
Spouse	Bayard D. Waring ​ ​ (m. 1954; died 2022)​ [1]
Children	4

Post-Pageant career

After winning Miss America 1948, Shopp used her pageant scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music. She specialized in the vibraharp, and graduated with a degree in percussion in 1952. She sang with Share the Music and the Cape Ann Symphony Chorus. She was active in community affairs, and headed the board of directors for Gloucester Stage Company.^[3]

Near the end of her Miss America reign while traveling in France, Shopp was asked about women wearing two-piece bathing suits to which she replied, 'I don't approve of Bikini suits for American girls...The French girls can wear them if they want to, but I still don't approve of them on American girls.'"^[4][5]

Personal life and death

Shopp married Korean War navigator Lt. Bayard D. Waring in 1954 and later had four daughters.^[6][7] As of 2000, she lived in Rockport, Massachusetts and was known by her married name Beatrice "Bea" Waring. She was a lay minister in the Episcopal Church and a TV spokeswoman for an electric scooter company.^[4]

Shopp died in Rockport on October 4, 2025, at the age of 95.^[8]