K-M student wears family heirloom to Prom

Analisa Buresh was hoping to shop for a Prom dress earlier this year when her grandmother, Judy Kinsey, suggested she try on a certain strapless red dress.
There was something about it. Lots of history. And a bit of magic, perhaps.
“I was skeptical,” said Analisa, a junior at Kasson-Mantorville High School. “I expected it to not look as modern. I did not expect to love it so much.”
Thus, Analisa attended K-M’s Prom in the dress worn by her Grandma Kinsey during Albert Lea High School’s Prom in 1958 – and by Judy’s former neighbor, Julie (Argue) Umbright, when Julie was named Miss Albert Lea, 1960, and when she was first runnerup in the 1961 Miss Minnesota pageant.
It was created by Judy’s mother, the late Margaret Myers.
“She would just be tickled pink about it,” said Judy, who lives in Berne. “It just makes everybody smile. And (Analisa) looks terrific in it. It’s a very simple dress. Everybody who sees pictures of it says, ‘Oh, it doesn’t look like it’s 60 years old.’ But it is.”
The dress was stored for years in a box in Margaret’s house. She made sure it ended up with Judy when it came time to clean out the house a few years back.
“And now it’s going to Prom again,” Judy said.
Analisa did go dress-shopping. She visited about three stores but didn’t find what she wanted.
“I didn’t love any of the dresses like I did that one,” she said. “My great-grandma made it and it was surprisingly pretty modern. It fits me perfectly. I still would have picked it, if it was at a Prom shop or somewhere.”
“How could she wear an old lady’s dress?” Judy said. “But I guess I wasn’t an old lady when I wore it.”
Analisa also plans to wear her grandma’s jewelry, and red leather shoes once worn by her great aunt, Jean Kinsey. 
But that dress is the conversation piece. Maybe Analisa was meant to wear it.
“It certainly did seem that way,” she said.