The Guide

Where Are the Queens of Yesteryear?

This week's Homecoming at the University of Miami is being ruled over by a pretty, teenage coed. She is the Homecoming Queen. She's helping to celebrate the theme, "The Fabulous Forties." who were the Queens in these "fabulous" years? What are they doing now? Three of the 10 beauties who reigned in the '40's still live in the Miami area. One in Coral Gables, one in the Southwest section, one on Miami Beach. The Dunn brothers liked Homecoming Queens, Eddie and Ray, both star UM grid de of the '40's, married the Queens of the 1940 and 1942 celebrations. Dorothy Ashe Dunn, Eddie's wife, was elected Queen in 1940 by the student body. It was a hotly contested contest, and she beat her nearest opponent by only eight votes. Lot Of Fun "I remember right, I was crowned on some sort of wooden stand in front of San Sebastian Residence Hall," she recalls. "We had a lot of fun." What is she doing now? "You can hear it," she told a telephone interviewer, alternately quieting her children and her dog. "I'm just a housewife . . . And I still have fun." 8. Dunn, daughter of the University's first president, Dr. Bowman F. Ashe, has three children: Bowman Ashe, 10 1/2; Linda Marie, 9 1/2; and Gary Edward, 7. Her husband, still active in alumni affairs as an ex-footballer and later coach, is an insurance agency vice president. The Dunns live at 520 Hardee Rd the Gables. The Queen in 1942 was Mary Lou Yahner, who married Eddie's brother Raymond Dunn. "Homecoming was pretty plain, back then," she says. "No floats, or big dances; just a bonfire and the game." But, she recalls, "UM was just like a high school then . . , you knew everybody's face." The highlight of Mrs. Dunn's senior year was when she was accused by the national press of refusing a date with Clark Gable. "Actually I just had to go to an 'M' Club (athletic honorary) dance that night. Gable was undergoing officer's training over on the Beach at the time, and his press agents asked me to come to a service dance he was going to attend. I said no. Next day it was all over the papers that I had refused to date Gable." Teaches School Today, Mrs. Dunn teaches seventh grade at Riviera Junior High and cares for her six children: Richard, 15; Margaret, 11; Ray Jr., 9; Ann, 8; Patricia, 6 and Mary Alice, 4. Raymond Dunn is sales director for a local construction firm. They live at 10799 SW 46th St. The third Queen of the '40's still in the area is Mrs. Hope Tanenbaum Rivkind, 875 West 47th St., Miami Beach. Her husband, Leonard, a grad of UM's Law School, is an attorney. In 1947 Mrs. Rivkind almost didn't make the Homecoming game, even though she was Queen. "I was so excited that I ran a red light on the way to the Stadium . . . But the policeman let m go when I told him I had to get to the game because I was the Queen." When she got there she was sealed inside a large may of the State of Florida on her coronation float. But when her name was announced to the crowd she couldn't get out! No Hole Left "They were supposd to leave a little hole in the paper for me to step through. They, didn't," she recalls. "I finally had to kick my way out, all the time trying to look very regal." Now a housewife, Mrs. Rivkind is chiefly occupied with caring for her three children: Terry Sue, 10 1/2; Mark Mitchell, 9 and Brett Alan, 2 1/2. The other seven Homecoming Queens of the 1940's have now moved out of the Miami area. The 1941 Queen, Thelma Cox, is Mrs. B. A. Ebermein of Baltimore, Maryland. There was neither Queen nor Homecoming in 1943 because of the war. But the next year it was Lee Carpenter, now Mrs. William W. Cook, Castro Valley, Calif. Alberta Bergh, first post-war Queen in 1945, is now Mrs. James L. Gamble, Baltimore. Dolores Papy, 1946, still resides in Ocala. Betty Ann Harding, who reigned for 1948 now lives in Santurce, Puerto Rico as Mrs. Austin Smith. Bobbie Alexander, 1949, went home to Charlotte after graduation. And this year's Queen? that's another story.

University of Miami's 25 points against Florida State University was the highest point total recorded against the Seminoles this year.