Whitestone, Heather

First deaf Miss America (1995-1996). Born and reared orally in Alabama; deafened at 18 months by ototoxic drugs used to treat bacterial infection. Central Institute for the Deaf, 1984-graduation in 1987, then attended a regular high school. Student at Jacksonville (AL) State University. In 1997, married John McCallum, an aspiring Georgia Republican politician (hearing). Biography, written by her doting hearing mother, is Yes, You Can, Heather! (1995); religious autobiography is Listening with My Heart (1997).