Patricia Ann "Pat" Cummings

Miss Minnesota 1944. Blev högst 96 år.

Barn med Robert Smiley (1915 - 1976)

Sambo med Edward Russell "Russ" van Krevelen

Noteringar

Harding, Patricia Ann It is with great sadness that the family announce her passing on Saturday, January 5, 2019 at the age of 95 years. She was surrounded by family at the time of her death. Born in Nashville, TN in 1923 to parents Kimball and Martha Cummings, Pat was the second of four children. Kim, her older brother and Mickie and Cha, her younger sisters. Pat was a former Miss Minnesota (Pat Cummings 1944) and a finalist in the Miss America Pageant.

Pat went to Hollywood in 1945, dancing as an extra in Fred Astaire's "Yolanda and the Thief" and playing a carnival queen in "Abbott and Costello in Hollywood". Pat attended and taught at the Minneapolis Business College where she taught students about self-improvement and executive development. Pat worked as a radio DJ in Ohio and forecast the weather in Minneapolis in the 1950's, under the name of Polly Prophet.

She was a pioneer in both radio and television and spent 10 years with the Minnesota Brewers Association making appearances at festivals, fairs and civic celebrations throughout the state. In 1945, she met the love of her life, Robert Smiley, whom she married until his death in 1976. Together they raised three children; Roberta, William, and Patricia Smiley.

Pat will be lovingly remembered by her husband Edward "Russ" VanKrevelen, and her living children William (Susan Ray) Smiley, and Patricia (Joseph) Reitemeier. Pat will also be fondly remembered by her 8 grandchildren, Michele Ryland, Brent (Amber) Ryland, Tricia (Tyler) Pingel, Christopher (Jenny) Reitemeier, Sara (Tory) Adams, Stephanie (Jay) Floyd, Samantha (Matt) Thompson, Ashley Smiley and her 7 great grandchildren, brother Kimball Cummings and family friend Michael Powles. Pat is preceded in death by her daughter, Roberta Smiley Ward, her husbands, Robert Smiley & Edward Harding, her parents Martha and Kimball Cummings and her sisters Micaela Castellano and Charlotte Kuhlmann.
Published on January 20, 2019


There was no crown when Patricia Cummings was crowned Miss Minnesota at the Excelsior Amusement Park in 1944. World War II raged, so whatever medal would have gone into tiaras was apparently needed to help the war effort.

“Everything had to be natural,” she said. “No bleached hair. No nose jobs. No falsies. They sent a woman into the dressing room to watch you put on your swimsuit to make sure.”

Now 90, splitting time between Arizona and Plymouth and known as Pat Harding, she’s the oldest living Miss Minnesota. The pageant honored her 70th anniversary this month and even gave her a long overdue crown a couple of years ago.

Back in ’44, she went on to Atlantic City, N.J., dazzled Miss America judges with a hula dance and finished in the top 10.

“We wore little skirts over our swimming suits because there could be no hint of a crotch,” she said.

Unlike today’s $9,000 scholarship that accompanies the title, the 1944 winner hauled in few benefits. But that didn’t slow her down.

Cummings went to Hollywood in 1945, dancing as an extra in Fred Astaire’s “Yolanda and the Thief” and playing a carnival queen in “Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.” She attended and taught at the Minneapolis Business College, worked as a radio DJ in Ohio and forecast the weather in Minneapolis in the 1950s under the name Polly Prophet.

She even went for a ride in a Blue Angels airplane in the early-’50s.

“The pilot did loops and I almost got sick, but I’m adventurous.”

She spent 10 years with the Minnesota Brewers Association, hawking beer in small towns across the state.

“I’m not a beer drinker, but had just enough to make sure people saw I was representing the breweries.”

She also raised three kids and has eight grandchildren and a half-dozen great-grandchildren. Twice widowed, she met her current husband, retired electrical engineer Edward Russell van Krevelen, after placing a personal singles ad in the newspaper in the 1990s.

“The gals encouraged me, saying ‘Do it, do it, you’ve been widowed longer than us,’” she said. “I met a few creeps first at the Perkins in Edina, but Russ and I talked for more than an hour and had plenty in common.”

She insists people have four distinct ages: chronological, mental, physical and spiritual.

“Everyone thinks of chronological age, but my chiropractor says I stack up with folks in their 50s and 60s physically, and I’m always interested in learning new things.”

New things like writing. At her granddaughter’s prompting, she’s busy crafting her autobiography.



CURT BROWN

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