| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Born | Armi Helena Kuusela Kovo August 20, 1934 Muhos, Finland |
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| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Weight | 49.0 kg (108 lb) |
| Title(s) | Suomen Neito 1952 Miss Universe 1952 |
| Major competition(s) |
Miss Universe 1952 (Winner) |
Armi Helena Kuusela (born August 20, 1934 in Muhos) is a Finnish beauty queen. In 1952 she won the national beauty contest Suomen Neito and was presented with a trip to the United States to participate in the first-ever Miss Universe pageant, becoming its first titleholder in history.
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Kuusela's parents, Aarne Kuusela (father) and Martta Kyrö (mother) met each other in Ontario, Canada and later married there. Their first baby was born in Canada. After several years in Canada, they returned to Finland to settle in Muhos. Martta gave birth to five girls and one boy; one of the girls died when only two-and-a-half years old. Kuusela was born on August 20, 1934, she was the fourth oldest of the children.
She went to middle school in Muhos, and in 1951 she started attending the women's college in Porvoo. Kuusela liked swimming, skiing, gymnastics and after successfully completing her Abitur, she intended to apply to the University of Helsinki Gymnastics Institute.
When Kuusela won her country's national pageant, Suomen Neito, on May 24, 1952, she was awarded a box of chocolates, a gold bangle, and a two-way ticket sponsored by Pan American Airways to the United States. On June 17, Kuusela took a flight to Long Beach, California and the first Miss Universe contest.
Thirty contestants participated in the first Miss Universe pageant in 1952. The pageant was held on June 29, 1952, and Kuusela, as Suomen Neito, captured the crown. At her crowning she was only 17 years old. At the time she weighed 49 kg (108 lb), and her height was 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in).
Immediately after her winning there was a Finnish movie made of her, called Maailman kaunein tyttö (World's most beautiful girl) where she played herself, and Tauno Palo acted Jack Coleman (opposite role). It was directed by Veikko Itkonen, with writing credits going to Mika Waltari.[1]
On February 22, 1953, Kuusela took a journey round the world, during which time she met a Filipino businessman, Virgilio Hilario. Less than a year later after being crowned, on May 4, 1953 Kuusela chose to give up her Miss Universe crown before her year was finished to marry Hilario in Tokyo. It was a whirlwind courtship. They met in March at a dance in Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines. Miss Universe had gone to the Islands for the International Trade Exposition. They honeymooned in the Hawaiian Islands, toured the United States and then Europe[2], before settling in the the Philippines where they had five children:[3]
Kuusela briefly managed the Manila apartment complex where she and Hilario lived before moving to an exclusive community called Forbes Park. Their house was on a road informally known as "Millionaire Street".
She was also in one film in the Philippines around this time.
Hilario died of a heart attack on September 7, 1975, and Kuusela married an American diplomat, Albert Williams, on June 8, 1978. First they moved to Barcelona, then to İzmir, Turkey before settling in La Jolla, a community in San Diego, California. As of 2011, she and her husband were still living there. She is still active in her community, participating in charities and involved in cancer research at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
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