Royalty descended upon Gordon this past week as the reigning Miss USA Audrey Eckert made a Christmas visit.
Eckert, who was crowned Miss USA in October of 2025, came to visit her family to celebrate the holidays fresh off a trip to Thailand where she was competing in the Miss Universe competition.
And to pay homage to her roots and connections to Gordon, she hosted a very special event at Gordon Countryside Care on Friday, December 26.
The residents of the facility, along with many fans, friends, and family attended the event the day after Christmas.
Eckert signed photos for her those in attendance along with giving a detailed account of what has happened since her big win.
Many young fans, and adults alike, asked questions about her journey and what the last few months have been like.
“It’s always nostalgic to come back to Gordon,” said Eckert.
“I have always came back to take a break and slow down when I was in college. But now more than ever it’s nice to be here and refresh,” she added.
The connection to Gordon is traced to her mother, Becca (Ruse) Eckert.
Becca is a 1993 Gordon High School graduate and now lives in Lincoln with her husband, Mike.
Gordon residents and Becca’s parents, Gary and Joyce Ruse, are Audrey’s grandparents. The pair has always offered a soft place to land for the Lincoln resident, especially after a hectic couple of months.
“Gordon has been a place I’ve been coming to for a long time as it means so much to my mom and my grandma and grandpa. Coming back to see everyone is really special,” said Eckert.
During her visit to Countryside Care, Eckert detailed her journey to Miss USA.
She told the 50-60 people in attendance that she began competing in pageants when she was nine years old. She won her first pageant, after learning from a few early mistakes, a year later when she was ten.
Eckert competed in pageants, gymnastics, and was also a cheerleader. That was amplified to another level as she became a Husker cheerleader during her college education at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
A few of her highlights during her time as a Husker was cheering during Nebraska Volleyball Day which was played in Memorial Stadium and also traveling with the football team to Ireland for a game in Europe.
Eckert graduated from UNL with a degree in Marketing before she had to place her career on hold for Miss USA.
She was also asked about what happened during the competition and when she won. Eckert was whisked away just four days after the big win for a three week trip to Thailand where she competed against 120 different women for the title of Miss Universe.
It was quite the trip as it required 7 suitcases to provide all the outfit requirements for 10-12 hour days of attending events, giving interviews, and photo shoots.
She has since returned to the U.S., including her visit to Gordon, and has events lined up in Los Angeles and New York in the near future. While in New York, Eckert is hoping to make appearances on Good Morning America and The Today Show.
While the title of Miss USA has taken Audrey all over the world, the support of her friends and family in Sheridan County is not something she forgets about.
“I want to thank everyone that has either been reading or watching, following along with me because it’s been a long process and it would be so much harder without the support of friends and family,” said Eckert.
“Having people from all over the state is really special to me, sending me well wishes, especially the people out here in Gordon because I know they care and I’ve built relationships with a lot of people,” she added.
With the busy schedule coming up, Eckert encourages everyone to follow along through her social media platforms.
She does her best to catalogue the day-to-day events, with the help of her parents, to keep everyone in the loop on what she is up to.
Her username/handle is audreyeckert_ . She can be found on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.