EVEN in her twilight years, bespectacled Liebling still has a semblance of the dazzling queen that Fiji has come to know since 1956. Winning the first ever Miss Hibiscus crown was an extraordinary fete, one she will always cherish in the treasure holds of her heart. For no other woman in the world except Liebling Elizabeth Marlow (nee Hoeflich) can lay claim to it.
A team from this newspaper met up with the Pierce Home resident for an opportunity to retell her story as Fiji’s first Hibiscus queen, especially as news of the festival’s revival hots up. Despite having to recall events that happened almost 70 years ago, when she was only a teenager raring to face the world, she vividly remembers them as if they happened yesterday. Every detail, from the sweltering heat at the civic centre during the private judging to the colour of her gown on crowning night, remains deeply etched in her mind.
“First we had the public judging. Then the organisers drew those huge thick curtains to separate us from the public during the private judging,” she recalls. “The room just became too hot but we had to sit in.
” She also recalls the anxiety she had over the yellow dress she wore, sewn by her mum, the late Faga Bentley. Unknown to the mesmerised public and judges, the zip of her dress was missing. However, her mum, someone she describes as “the best tailor ever” worked something out to keep the gown in place.
“I was worried every time I turned or walked on stage because I kn.