MARK WAITE / PVT Contestants in the Ms. Senior America Nye County Pageant dance their opening number on stage at the Saddle West Saturday. Pictured from left are Shary Jimerfield, Daisy Jackson, Mary McGuire, Rita DiDomerico, Pat Burnley, winner Lynette Schlager and Marilyn Morrison. MARK WAITE / PVT Shary Jimerfield sings the Patti Page hit, "Allegheny Moon," while seated on a crescent moon, during the talent competition of the Ms. Senior America Nye CountyPageant. MARK WAITE / PVT Mary McGuire performs "Mama Morton," a gangster spoof. Advertisement

Outdoor enthusiast Lynette Schlager won the 2008 Ms. Senior America Nye County Pageant at the Saddle West Hotel and Casino Saturday, competing among seven other women at least 60 years old up to 81 years.

Schlager said she lost 75 pounds since she placed second runner-up in the rival Ms. Senior Golden Years Pageant last summer, with a protein diet and dance exercises. She competed in the Ms. Senior Sweetheart Pageant of America in Massachusetts last November.

In her lifetime, Schlager was a race car crew chief, scuba diving instructor, ski instructor, showed horses and had her own music production company. Her talent competition including a song and dance ending with a gymnastic routine.

Her philosophy of life: To have a happy disposition, positive attitude and joyous heart.

"Life is not measured by the breaths you take but by the happy and joyous moments that take your breath away," she said.

Schlager will be eligible to compete in the Ms. Senior Nevada Pageant in August at the Sun Coast Casino in Las Vegas. She will also be attending a dinner at the governor's mansion May 7 with former senior state beauty queens.

The first runner-up was Rita DiDomerico, a relative newcomer to Pahrump, who won an art competition at the last Pahrump Fall Festival and studied dance in Chicago.

Second runner-up was Mary McGuire, a Pahrump resident since 1964 and former Nevada Test Site worker who ran the town's first humane society.

Octogenarian Venita Frederick was confined to a wheelchair, but she won the talent competition, belting out the song, "Summertime," by George Gershwin.

Miss Congeniality was Daisy Jackson, a physical therapist and bartender at the Pahrump Elks Lodge.

Entertainment was dished out by performers like Tony Vicari, a regular fixture at karaoke night at the Stagestop Bar on Thursday nights, who donned a tuxedo to deliver his decent rendition of Frank Sinatra tunes. "Johnny V" charmed the ladies with his Elvis impersonations, clad in a bright, red outfit.

The Mesquite Toes, a dance group from Mesquite, traveled to Pahrump to perform. Ms. Senior Nevada 2007 Karen Beausoleil danced for the crowd.

A moment of silence was held for Patti Ogren of Reno, founder of the Ms. Senior America Pageant, who died last year.

The pageant was under the production and direction of Scotty Winegar. The show didn't go off entirely without a hitch, like the opening song in which a compact disc malfunction kept 2007 Ms. Senior America Nye County Joanna Laina from finishing, "Mr. Bojangles."

Last year, the Ms. Senior Nye County Pageant was held in Amargosa Valley.