Day Deborah Rica Lipford, now known as Dr. Day Gardner, is a former Miss Atlantic City, (1974) who served as Miss Delaware 1976 and made history by becoming the first African American contestant to place as a top ten semi-finalist at the Miss America 1977 pageant. Raised in the Elwood section of Mullica Township, New Jersey, graduated from Oakcrest High School in Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, New Jersey in 1973. She is the former National Director of Black Americans for Life, in Washington, D.C., (an outreach of National Right to Life Committee).