Dr. Due Books

Marilyn Van Derbur was swamped with admiring fans at a downtown Dallas hotel Friday. Many want to see the former Miss America, but for most it’s her remarkable journey that is the draw. When Van Derbur won the crown in 1958, she says her family seemed like the picture of perfection. “Burt Parks actually called everyone up on the stage and that was never done before”.

But, Van Derbur says not long after winning the crown, repressed memories began to bubble up and that is when she realized she had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father, Francis Van Derbur. “He started when I was five and it went on for 13 years until I left for college”. Van Derbur says because her father was a wealthy, prominent businessman in Denver few people believed the her father was capable of abuse. Even her own mother didn’t believe. “She looked at me and said she didn’t believe me, that it was a fantasy”.

Van Derbur didn’t tell anyone, except her fiance, now husband of 45 years, for about three decades. It was People magazine that did a cover story on the abuse allegation that broke the story wide open. Since then Van Derbur, who is 71, has been travelling and sharing her story of incest survival.

Today, she told her story to hundreds of people gathered for a benefit for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. Van Derbur talked about night terrors and how she had a “night child” who dealt with the abuse and a “day child” who didn’t even know it was happening. She says it was a kind counselor who helped her realize she had been raped by her father.

Van Derbur encourages others not to suffer in silence. She says everywhere she goes incest victims want to tell her their stories. She says parents should talk with teenage parents about sexual abuse. But, for the ex-beauty contestant there is one constant support in her life; her husband of 45 years, Larry. She says that he helped her to overcome so that she could do what she does today. Van Derbur calls it her ministry.