Dallas Strip Clubs: What Do "Prettiest Teacher in U.S.," James Bonham Elementary, Candy Barr …
Here, from the Life spread, is a photo of Nell and her husband, one George Washington Owen Jr., ringing in the new year following The Big Announcement. They were married at Highland Park Methodist Church in June 1951, when then-Nell McGrew of Rotan (outside Abilene) and George, who’d graduated from Crozier Tech, were seniors at SMU. A year later Nell won her award. But in years to come, Owen would become infamous. As Doug Bedell summed it up in his December 7, 1986, sit-down with Owen, who refused to mention first wife Nell and those who followed:
In the late 1950s, Owen was the mysterious boyfriend of Candy Barr and narrowly avoided going to jail when Dallas police arrested the famed stripper for possession of marijuana. In the ’60s, the former SMU athlete survived the acrimonious crash of his marriage to a stewardess named Maureen Kane, who would later become Maureen Dean, wife of Watergate defendant John Dean. “Mo” would essentially come to accuse Owen of bigamy.