"I've always wanted to ride the white horse at the front of a circus parade," 14-year-old "queen for a day" Patsy May told her welcoming delegation at Joslin field after she stepped out of a United Air lines plane.
She was quickly informed she could do just that during the grand entry of the Twin Falls mounted posse rodeo which opens Thursday night (the 24th).
Smiling somewhat wanly because of rough weather encountered on the flight, Patsy was greeted by a group of civic and service club officials including Mayor H. G. Lauterbach, Alice Greenough, rodeo producer; W. M. Olds, rodeo chairman; Tony Young, Frontier Riding club president; Curtis Turner, posse captain; Marjorie Holt, rodeo queen; Frank Judd, Chamber of Commerce president, and Cliff Simmons, Jaycee president.
After an interview broadcast by KVMV, Patsy and her grandmother, Mrs. Clara E. May, North Hollywood, Calif., were taken to their suite in the Rogerson hotel by the rodeo welcoming committee of which Mrs. A. W. Young is chairman. Hostesses will be Mrs. Arnold Cross, Wednesday (the 23rd); Mrs. Young, Thursday; Mrs. Tom Alworth, Friday and Mrs. Frank Judd, Saturday.
Plans for the teen-age queen, selected to preside over the posse rodeo on the Mutual Network program Queen For A Day at Hollywood Tuesday afternoon (the 22nd), went slightly astray when it was learned Patsy's recent flight left her in no mood for the breakfast prepared for her.
At noon she was the honor guest of the Lions club. Wednesday afternoon she was to be outfitted in Western regalia from head to toe by some 60 local merchants.
She will appear on the Merchants' Bureau rodeo preview program tonight at the intersection of Main avenue and Shoshone street. Three full days of entertainment and activities are planned for her during the rodeo, and she will be a guest at Sun Valley afterward.
Patsy's grandmother is a folksy woman of 64, the wife of a foundry patternmaker. She said their first airplane ride was a big thrill to both Patsy and herself. After Patsy's selection on the radio program, so many things happened so fast - packing, travel, gifts, arrangements - that Mrs. May found herself in the same clothes at noon Wednesday that she had worn to the Tuesday radio program.
Mrs. May said everything is "just unbelievable - a dream from fairyland!" She was elated when her doctor recommended the excursion as the best thing possible for her heart condition, but found all the gifts and arrangements make it ever harder for her to break Patsy's habit of saying "My gosh!"
The family owns a saddle horse and Patsy has ridden for eight years. She helps at the stable where the horse is kept and often goes on trail rides with large groups of disabled veterans from a nearby hospital. She is fond of animals and has had many pets. Mrs. May began horseback riding two years ago.
Patsy likes all outdoor activities and likes sports and gymnasium classes best in school, where she will enter the ninth grade next fall. She has never attended a rodeo and is elated at the prospect. Fond of farm life she said she would like to live on a ranch when she grows up.
Both Patsy and her grandmother commented on the western friendliness and the royal welcome here. They said they were captivated with Magic Valley as seen from the air.
Nineteen days after Patsy was born, her mother died, and she has lived with her grandparents, by whom she was adopted, since she was six weeks old. Because of her grandmother's heart trouble, Patsy does all the cooking, washing and housework for the family.
At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Patsy will appear at the Orpheum theater with Mrs. May, Miss Holt, Miss Greenough and other guests in a half-hour honorary program to be broadcast over KVMV. During the program she will receive gifts from local merchants and make the presentation of the rodeo queen.
(The rodeo continued until Saturday the 26th.)