OAKLAND COUNTY, MI – Pamela Eldred-Robbins, who represented the state of Michigan as the crowned Miss America in 1970, has died at the age of 74.
Eldred-Robbins, a native of West Bloomfield, was a sassy, strong-willed woman who dedicated her life to service and advocated for the special needs community as Miss America 1970, her daughter Hilary Levey Friedman told MLive.
The 74-year-old died Tuesday, July 12, of kidney failure after spending a week in hospice care. The family held a memorial service Wednesday at Lynch & Sons funeral home in Clawson, located in Oakland County.
“To the end of her life, Pam enjoyed Michigan’s culinary delights and shopping for jewelry at Tapper’s,” Levey Friedman wrote in her mother’s obituary. “Pam’s life ended as she lived it: on her own terms. She was sassy, strong-willed and seriously beautiful.”
Pamela Eldred-Robbins, who served as Miss Michigan 1969 and Miss America 1970, died at the age of 74 on Tuesday, July 12. In this photo, she sits with her grandsons, Carston and Quenton Friedman. (Photo provided by Hilary Levey Friedman)
Eldred-Robbins only entered the world of pageantry at age 20 because of an injury that forced her to stop doing ballet full time. A talented dancer, Eldred-Robbins was a principal with the Detroit City Ballet by age 14, and trained at the American Ballet Theater in New York City.
She ended her ballet career and began to pursue modeling at the Patricia Stevens Finishing School, “a decision that would change the course of her life,” according to her obituary.
After performing in the Detroit Auto Show in 1968, Eldred-Robbins was recruited to participate in the 1968 Miss Detroit Pageant, where she earned the crown. She was crowned Miss Detroit again the following year, and then went on to win the Miss Michigan pageant in 1969, and ultimately was named Miss Michigan 1970.
Eldred-Robbins was the third of five women from Michigan who would be crowned Miss America. She was the first ballet dancer to become Miss America.
During her reign, Eldred-Robbins served two tours to Vietnam through the United Service Organization (USO) which were a “highlight of her life,” according to her obituary. She was awarded for showing courage under fire when enemy forces prompted evacuations during a live show.
Levey Friedman said her mother represented “a different era” in American history, when women were just starting to think differently about what they could achieve in life.
It was during the 1970s that Miss America contestants began to see the pageant as a means to success for gaining a good education and attaining their professional goals, according to the Miss America website.
As Miss America 1970, Eldred-Robbins helped launch the pageant competition into a new era, laying the groundwork for the modern day Miss America pageant that today is rooted in service and uplifts women for their brains, not just their beauty.
“That time was a very transitional time in our country,” Levey Friedman said, of her mother’s reign as Miss America. “She was crowned in September 1969, so there was a lot of tumult in terms of not just women’s rights, but civil rights. We had just landed on the moon.”
“There were just so many changes going on, and that was sort of an inflection point for women in the U.S. and what was possible for them, in terms of educational and professional success.”
One of the most notable parts of Eldred-Robbins’ reign was her advocacy for the special needs community. She served as a national spokesperson for the March of Dimes.
During her answer to the final question round of the Miss America 1970 pageant, Eldred-Robbins spoke about her little sister, Melanie, who was born with several birth defects and severe developmental delays – conditions that were not often discussed during that time period.
Bert Parks, the longtime host of the televised Miss America pageant, did not know about Melanie’s condition when he asked Eldred-Robbins, “What advice would you give your 14-year-old sister Melanie, and other young girls, about how to enter the ‘now’ generation?”
Eldred-Robbins answered the question in a straightforward way: “Well, unfortunately, my little sister Melanie is brain damaged, so I really couldn’t give her any information. But I think a young girl entering the ‘now’ generation today, I’d just tell them to be themselves and enjoy life by being themselves,” according to her obituary.
When her sister died in 2008, Eldred-Robbins established the Pam Eldred Community Health Scholarship through the Miss Michigan organization, which awards a $2,000 scholarship to young women pursuing careers impacting the special needs community.
After her time as Miss America, Eldred-Robbins returned to Michigan and graduated from Mercy College, now the University of Detroit Mercy, with a degree in speech and drama, her obituary said. She continued to model and perform in the Detroit area, and married in 1976.
After later divorcing, Eldred-Robbins started her own business as a cosmetologist and electrologist. She also taught modeling courses, judged dance competitions, and wrote for The Oakland Press, according to her obituary.
She gave birth to Levey Friedman in 1980 and was a devoted mother who worked hard to provide the highest quality education for her daughter. Levey Friedman attributed much of her own success to her mother’s background as a public speaker, her beauty expertise, and her devotion to public service.
“My life has been very different from my mom’s, but so much of what I’ve been able to achieve is because of what she learned during that time in her life,” she told MLive.
Levey Friedman wrote a book about her mother’s reign in 2020, titled, “Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America.”
Eldred-Robbins remarried Norman Robbins in 1998, and the two lived together in West Bloomfield and Boca Raton, Florida, until her husband’s death in 2019.
Eldred-Robbins is survived by her daughter; her son-in-law, John Friedman; and her two grandsons, Carston and Quenton Friedman, whom she helped to “ensure that they were always the most dapper young men you ever saw,” according to her obituary.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to The Arc of Oakland County or the Pam Eldred Community Health Scholarship through the Miss Michigan organization.
“Even in death, Pam thought of others — donating her body to the University of Michigan for anatomical research — and she encourages others to explore this option for themselves,” her obituary concludes.
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