Services today for a queen

Holly Halstead Balthis was crowned Rose Bowl Queen in 1930, and

reigned as “Queen Mum” until she died July 30 at her Laguna Beach

home. She was 95. She had been the oldest surviving Rose Queen.

Services will be held at 11 a.m., today, at Laguna Beach United

Methodist Church, 21632 Wesley Drive.

“She was the Queen,” said church member Ann Quilter.

Balthis was a 22-year-old college student when she was crowned

Rose Bowl Queen.

She was an employee in the Tournament of Roses public relations

department, and continued her association by attending the annual

events connected to the New Year’s Day Parade and tournament.

Balthis encouraged other Rose Queens to relive their glory days by

attending events they were invited to as former queens, said Nancy

Skinner, the 1952 Rose Queen.

“She was always upbeat and effervescent,” she said. “No one ever

saw her as old. She was 95, but she still drove herself to every

party and luncheon. She was a queen mother to all of us.”

She also was active in the Assistance League of Glendale and

Flintridge, the USO during World War II, the Eisenhower Hospital,

Dana-Niguel Library, PEO, the Doheney Eye Institute and UCLA, from

which she graduated.

Balthis was born Sept. 14, 1908, in Pasadena, and was educated

there through high school. At UCLA, she pledged Delta Gamma in 1927.

She was a member of UCLA’s women’s honorary Gold Shield.

She married Frank Balthis in May of 1930, wearing the same dress

she wore as Rose Bowl Queen.

Balthis’ husband preceded her in death, as did her sister,

Gabrielle, who died just four days before Holly. Gabrielle, seven

years younger than Holly, was chosen by her older sister to be in the

1930 Rose Bowl Court, this was in the days before the girls competed

for the role.

She is survived by her son Frank Spencer Balthis Jr., a state park

ranger and a natural history and travel photographer; and

daughter-in-law, Judy Beach Balthis.

“My mother set a good example for me,” said Balthis, who took her

on many of his travels in the 1980s and 1990s. “She loved having her

camera out and meeting people.”

Such was her love of life, she never talked about a chronic

illness.

“She way outlived her doctors’ expectations,” said her son. “And

just a week and half before she died, she was driving, playing bridge

and doing crossword puzzles.”

Her sister’s illness hit her hard, Balthis said.

Balthis died at the Eagle Rock home where she lived for about 32

years. The home is owned by Skinner, also a former Rose Bowl Queen.

Balthis was esteemed by Laguna’s Methodist Church congregation,

members of which helped her celebrate her 90th birthday, which was

written about by Elizabeth Quilter.

Sixteen members of one of the church’s supper clubs hosted a party

for Holly. Each host brought a long-stemmed rose. The men wore dinner

suits, the women wore long gowns and tiaras. Holly wore her Queen’s

tiara.

The men sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” followed by a modest

bump and grind.

“Everybody loved Holly,” said Bob Earl, a member of the supper

club that serenaded her. “We were all younger than her, but she was

so young at heart it was infectious.”

A Celebration of Life is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the Laguna

Beach United Methodist Church at 21632 Wesley Drive in Laguna Beach.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials in her name be

made to the Living Desert Reserve at 47/900 Portola Ave., Palm

Desert, CA 92260; or Friends of the Dana Point Library at 22841

Niguel Road, Dana Point, CA 92629; or the Laguna Beach United

Methodist Church.

-- Barbara Diamond