We are now two weeks away from the annual Romeo Peach Festival, so let's continue celebrating the Peach Queens of the past!
Today, we'll talk about Pamela Cumming - a Peach Queen who achieved a rare feat in Romeo Peach Queen history in the 1960s.
In 1964, the Romeoite was crowned with the Peach Queen and Miss Romeo titles. This made her the third queen to have attained this, but how?
While it's common these days for the Peach Queen to be from the Romeo-Washington-Bruce area, it was rarer in the past because of the guidelines for the pageant. In a letter from 1939, the Peach Festival Association described the Peach Queen Pageant as "...in previous years, a reigning queen, maids of honor, and a queens court, will be selected from candidates representing five counties--Lapeer, Genessee, St. Clair, Oakland, and Macomb."
In 1964, there were 12 contestants representing Pontiac, Algonac, Flint, Waterford Township, Metropolitan Beach, Rochester, Utica, Romeo, Oxford, Ortonville, Lapeer, and Armada. This included Pamela, Barbara Walter (Miss Armada), Nancy Gay Shadrick (Miss Waterford Township), and Donna Lee Shepherd (Miss Flint). Because Pamela had won the Miss Romeo title earlier that summer, she was able to compete in the Peach Queen Pageant.
The August 13, 1964 issue of The Romeo Observer described that year's competition rules. The women would make two appearances - one in street attire and the other in formal dresses. They would also be interviewed by a panel of judges, which included Mrs. Laurena Pringle of the Detroit Free Press, Howard Heldenbrand of the Pontiac Press, Maurice Vincent of the Mount Clemens Monitor-Leader, and Mrs. Maston Forkum of the John Robert Powers Finishing School in Detroit. They scored the contestants on poise, personality, and appearance as well as beauty.
Pamela was selected as the Peach Queen for that year, and it's not hard to see why. She's very beautiful as seen in the photo above with her second Maid of Honor Barbara (left) and first Maid of Honor Nancy (right). In addition, she worked for Dr. John Nott - a dentist in Romeo, and she had plans to join the Women's Air Force and take dental technician training.
This made her the third queen to have obtained both the Miss Romeo and Peach Queen titles. The two previous queens who attained this were Lois Beal in 1937 and Nancy Barber in 1939. Pamela would be the last one to achieve this feat because the Miss Romeo title would be discontinued after 1973 due to high costs and lack of interest.
Ironically, Pamela almost didn't win the title. The August 27, 1964 Romeo Observer edition discussed a "slight mixup" in the judges' decision. The contestants weren't known by their names, but by numbers. When the judges made their decision, a number was hastily written down. What was it? It was a number 1, which belonged to Donna - the aformentioend Miss Flint. The error wasn't discovered until Donna was crowned, given flowers, and being photographed. It turned out that the judges meant to write down the number 11, which was associated with, you guest it, Pamela!
Pamela was able to receive the crown and carry out her duties to represent local peach harvests and to bring attention to orchards and the Peach Festival. This included making appearances on radio, television, sport events, and the traditional trip to Washington D.C.
Interestingly enough, the next Peach Queen from Romeo wouldn't come until 1982 when Laura Amon took the crown.
Congratulations, Pamela!
To learn more about Pamela Cumming, other Peach Queens, and the Peach Festival in general, you can locate the Romeo Peach Festival Collection here and/or contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org to see said collection in person.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Romeo Peach Festival Collection, 1964