thecrowncompetitors

Results
1 MN - Barbara Elaine Peterson
2 MI - Kevin Christine Gale
3 OR - Gail Elaine Atchinson
4 SC - Virginia Jan Murray
5 LA - Robyn Denise Sanders

Semi-finalists
CA - Joan Marie Pennock
GA - Liz Wickersham
IL - Kathy Ann Schmalen
MO - Donna Hibbitts
NM - Jonelle Wyn Bergquist
TX - Mary Candace Gray
WA - Norene Lee Gilbert

Barbara Peterson Burwell (born c. 1954) is a beauty queen from Edina, Minnesota who has held the Miss USA title.

Peterson won the Miss Minnesota USA 1976 crown and later represented Minnesota in the Miss USA 1976 pageant held in Niagara Falls, New York in May that year. She won the Miss USA crown, becoming the first titleholder from Minnesota.

Peterson represented the United States at the 1976 Miss Universe pageant in Hong Kong, in which she failed to place in the semi-finals. She was the first Miss USA delegate not to advance to the semi-final round, a distinction later duplicated by Kimberly Pressler (Miss USA 1999) and Shauntay Hinton (Miss USA 2002).

Peterson along with her sister Polly Peterson authored “Becoming a Beauty Queen” based on their experience with pageant work.