Hellevi Schine, 64, was killed in a plane crash in Southern California on June 20, 1996, along with her husband, G. David Schine, 69, and their son Berndt, 35, who was the plane's pilot. Her death was overshadowed by that of her husband, who was a successful and controversial man, but pageant fans remembered her as Sweden's Hellevi Rombin, Miss Universe 1955.
Hellevi Rombin was an extraordinary athlete as well as a stunning woman. She was the Swedish national decathlon champion before being crowned Miss Sweden. Photographs of her as Miss Universe are still striking for the warmth they seem to exude. In some, she appears almost angelic, reminiscent of her fellow Swede Ingrid Bergman playing Joan of Arc.
Ms. Rombin married Schine in 1957, and they had six children. He was at the center of the great McCarthy controversy of the 1950s, allied with Sen. Joseph McCarthy and lawyer Roy Cohn in political warfare that eventually destroyed McCarthy's career. Schine then went on to success in the motion picture business, serving as executive producer of "The French Connection" in 1971. (Cohn, coincidentally, later became a confidant of the young Donald Trump.)
Hellevi Rombin Schine is gone, but as long as beauty is celebrated, her legacy will be remembered.
