When they were young, they were Rose Queens--symbols of the eternally sunny, wholesome California dream. Wearing the crown, sitting atop the rose-festooned float, smiling and waving to the crowds that lined the streets for the Tournament of Roses Parade each New Year's Day in Pasadena, they were part of an annual tradition shared by millions.
And then, after the last rose petals had been swept from the streets, they went on to live ordinary, comfortable lives. Details of those lives poured forth late last week at the Rose Queens' annual brunch. A crowd of about 200 joined 34 queens, as they hugged and squealed and pointed to their photos and those of friends, on display at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Suitably, the affair was held in the hotel's elegant Rose Ballroom.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday January 3, 2001 Home Edition Southern California Living Part E Page 3 View Desk 1 inches; 18 words Type of Material: Correction
Misspelled name--A story Monday about a gathering of Rose Parade queens misspelled the name of 1953's queen, Leah Feland Cullen.
What became of them? They didn't choose careers as television announcers or actresses, as Miss America might. They didn't hang around the Playboy mansion or date jocks, rappers and sheiks, as Miss USA might. Instead, they followed tradition, going to college, marrying lawyers and businessmen, settling down and raising children. Some worked, some stayed at home. And when they grew old, they played tennis and golf and coddled grandchildren.
Of course, some of the details of their lives were extraordinary. Nancy Davis Maggio traveled the country singing with the Sweet Adelines International chorus, and gained and lost 100 pounds--a couple of times--since she was crowned in 1963. Eleanor Payne Ford married a military man, and moved 43 times in the 50 years since her Rose Queen reign.
But hearth and home remained the focus of their lives. For example, 1967's queen, Barbra Hewitt Laughray, became a minister, specializing in weddings. The 1953 Rose Queen, Leah Feland Collins, is a wedding planner who recently remarried. Yet another queen, 1955's Marilyn Smuin Beutler, found success as an award-winning gourmet cook and author.
The Rose Queens seemed well-heeled; the room was awash in St. John knits, Ferragamo pumps and Chanel handbags accented by the occasional Burberry scarf.
Frozen in the portraits on display was a century's worth of idealized Southern California femininity: queens draped in rich Victorian fabrics, all buttons and bonnets; queens with pouty, 1920s bee-sting lips; bobbed queens of the 1930s and '40s; queens with the strong features and heavy eyebrows of the 1950s. A row of queens with 1960s flips and white lipstick, was followed by even more queens wearing the flowing tresses of the 1970s and 1990s. In 1981, Leslie Kawai Davis, who is Japanese American, was the first nonwhite person to be crowned Rose Queen. Four years later, Christina Smith Espinosa, became the first African American queen.
