The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → 1940 Pasadena Rose Queen Margaret Huntley Main dies at 102
Pasadena Independent Nov 29, 2023
Margaret Jayne Huntley Main. | Photo courtesy of the rose_parade/Instagram
by
share with
The Pasadena Tournament of Roses’ longest-living Rose Queen, Margaret Jayne Huntley Main, has died at age 102, it was announced Tuesday.
The 1940 Rose Queen died Friday in Auburn, California, according to the Tournament of Roses.
“As the revered longest-living Rose Queen, her legacy shines as a testament to the Rose Court tradition and her unwavering dedication to the Tournament of Roses,” the organization said in a statement.
Main was a student at Pasadena City College in 1939 when the Pasadena Tournament of Roses chose her as the next year’s queen.
She rode in the Rose Parade several times as a rider on the annual Kodak float built for past Rose Queens, and in 2009, she rode on the City of Roseville float.
Main established the Queens’ Alumni Association and attended the Rose Queen Announcement and Coronation ceremony and the annual Rose Queens Luncheon until she retired from travel in 2019.
She met every Rose Queen, from the first, Hallie Woods, who presided during the 1905 Rose Parade, to 2020 Rose Queen Camille Kennedy, the 102nd honoree.
The Tournament of Roses celebrated Main with a 100th birthday party in Auburn, at which 2022 Tournament of Roses President Robert Miller brought her 1940 Swarovski crystal crown, now on display in Tournament House, for one last fitting.
Main congratulated 2024 Rose Queen Naomi Stillitano following her coronation last month.
The Tournament of Roses said Main, “a timeless symbol of grace, will forever adorn the history of the Rose Parade.”
Main was preceded in death by her husband Robert Main and daughter Linda Main Hack. She is survived by her sister Alyce Main Levy; sons John Main of Boulder City, Nevada, and Martin Main of Grass Valley; daughter Sandra Main of Auburn; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A service celebrating the life of Margaret Huntley Main will be held in her hometown of Auburn, with private interment at Roseville Cemetery in Roseville, California.
