(Brenda Joan Seal on the Dayton Tennessee Chamber of Commerce parade float for the year 1968. Photo By Bob Ivory)

From Tennessee Strawberry Festival Queen to Miss Tennessee and the Miss America Stage

Brenda Joan Seal, later known as Brenda Seal Kemp, was crowned Queen of the Tennessee Strawberry Festival in 1967, beginning a remarkable journey that would soon take the young Kingsport woman from the Strawberry Festival stage to the Miss America Pageant and into a recording studio.

The Tennessee Strawberry Festival had been a Dayton and Rhea County tradition since 1947, originally created to celebrate the county’s important strawberry-growing industry. Over the years, the festival’s parades, community celebrations and annual selection of a Strawberry Queen became an important part of local history.

In 1967, that crown belonged to Brenda Joan Seal.

Her place in Strawberry Festival history was formally recognized decades later by the Tennessee General Assembly. In a 2005 resolution honoring the festival and its former queens, state lawmakers specifically identified “Brenda Joan Seal Kemp (’67),” firmly documenting Brenda as the 1967 Tennessee Strawberry Festival Queen.

The Strawberry Festival crown proved to be only the beginning.

Representing East Tennessee State University, Brenda went on to become Miss Tennessee 1968. At just 19 years old, she represented the state at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City and advanced to the Top 10 finalists.

Brenda’s singing talent also opened the door to a recording career. In January 1969, Billboard reported that she had signed a recording contract with Singcord Corporation, associated with Zondervan Publishing House, to record an album featuring ten of America’s best-known religious hymns, including “Amazing Grace” and “The Old Rugged Cross.”

By March 1969, Record World reported that Brenda had completed her first album. The hymns had been selected through a nationwide survey of 100,000 homes.

A July 1, 1969 article in The Jackson Sun provides even more information about her recording career. The newspaper reported that the 20-year-old Miss Tennessee had an album out entitled Miss Tennessee—Brenda Seals Sings America’s Top 10 Religious Hymns.

At the time, Brenda was also recording additional music at Sound City Inc. in Jackson, Tennessee. According to the newspaper, she recorded a song titled “Life, I Love You” and was scheduled to return the following day to record another song, “White Lace.”

Brenda was accompanied to the recording session by Jack Smythe, president of the Miss Tennessee Pageant and her business manager. She was scheduled to return to Jackson on July 19 to crown the new Miss Tennessee, bringing her own year as the state’s titleholder to a close.

Her involvement in entertainment continued. Later in 1969, Brenda was also reported to be appearing in a Nashville musical and fashion production.

Yet for those interested in the history of Dayton and Rhea County, Brenda Joan Seal’s story has a particularly special beginning.

Before Miss Tennessee, before becoming a Top 10 Miss America finalist, and before making a record album, she was the young woman chosen to represent one of Rhea County’s most beloved traditions:

Brenda Joan Seal
1967 Tennessee Strawberry Festival Queen

Her photograph preserves the image of a Strawberry Queen whose story extended far beyond the festival grounds—a young Tennessee woman whose journey carried her from Dayton and the Strawberry Festival crown to the Miss Tennessee title, the Miss America stage and a recording career.

Where She Is Today

Brenda later became known as Brenda Seal Kemp and married Brantley Kemp. After the pageants and recording years, she largely stepped away from the public spotlight.

Family records provide a more recent glimpse into her life. When her brother Wayne Luke Seal died in 2022, Brenda Seal Kemp and her husband Brantley were listed among his surviving family members. In June 2024, Brenda and Brantley were again named among the surviving family in the obituary of Brenda’s sister, Marjorie Seal Wiles.

No reliable obituary or death record for Brenda has been located after that time. Therefore, the most recent information presently available indicates that Brenda Joan Seal Kemp was still living in 2024.

More than half a century after she wore the crown in Dayton, Brenda Joan Seal Kemp remains part of the history of the Tennessee Strawberry Festival. Her story is a reminder that for one young woman in 1967, the Strawberry Festival crown was not the end of an accomplishment—it was the beginning of an extraordinary journey.

Photo: Brenda Joan Seal, 1967 Tennessee Strawberry Festival Queen.