News articles through the years …
When Marilyn Van Derbur Atler shares her tale of incest, people respond with confidences of their own.
The 1958 Miss America received a letter from a 73-year-old woman who, after reading about Ms. Van Derbur, told a friend that she was a victim of incest.
It was the first time the woman had shared her trauma with anyone, Ms. Van Derbur said.
“It’s going on in every community in America,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Denver. “[Incest] survivors are beginning to understand now it is safer to come forward.”
Crowning Achievement
June 24, 2004 / David Holthouse
The footfalls of a stranger in a distant hallway cause Marilyn Van Derbur, Miss America 1958, to spring from a cozy chair in her living room like a cat shot with a rubber band.
Feb 5, 2005 / By Katy Butler
A debate rages over incest-recovery therapies that can create false memories of sexual abuse
Former Miss America, incest survivor, shares her story
“Scuff, scuff, scuff.”
The sounds of expensive felt soles making their way down the hall of a Denver mansion in the middle of a night.
The slow turn of the door handle on the private bedroom door of a 5-year-old girl.