Heather Whitestone

Heather Whitestone
Whitestone in 1997
Born	(1973-02-24) February 24, 1973 (age 43) Dothan, Alabama
Alma mater	Jacksonville State University
Occupation	Motivational speaker and author
Known for	First deaf Miss America
Title	Miss Alabama 1994 Miss America 1995
Predecessor	Kimberly Clarice Aiken
Successor	Shawntel Smith
Spouse(s)	John McCallum

Heather Leigh Whitestone McCallum (born February 24, 1973) is a former beauty queen who was the first deaf Miss America title holder, having lost most of her hearing at age 18 months.

Whitestone was born in Dothan, Alabama. When she 18 months old, she lost her hearing due to a serious ear infection. In fourth grade, Heather learned about the story of a young woman from Alabama who would forever change her life – Helen Keller. Keller became her role model. She was unable to keep up with her classwork and began to fall behind her peers. She asked her family to send her to a special school that would enable her to catch up with other students in her class. While at the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, Missouri, she learned two grade levels per year. After three years, she caught up with her peers and returned to Alabama to graduate from public high school with a 3.6 grade point average (GPA).

She moved to Birmingham at age sixteen, following her parents' divorce. She attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts for a year and graduated from Berry High School (now Hoover High School) in 1991. Her passion was ballet and she had spent most of her time developing her ballet skills. She then went on to study at Jacksonville State University.

Whitestone first participated in Shelby County Junior Miss program. While not actually a beauty pageant, the experience gave her the confidence to begin entering pageants. Her first year in the Miss America system, she won the Miss Jacksonville State University title, and went on to be Miss Alabama. She stood next to Miss Virginia (Culen Johnson) in the finals of the Miss America 1995 pageant. When the first runner-up was announced, she could not hear the host Regis Philbin but could read his lips. Surprised, she looked to her fellow contestant for confirmation that she had won.