Jeanne Robertson, 77, Down-Dwelling Humorist With a Pageant Past, Dies

Jeanne Robertson, who turned her title of Miss out on Congeniality at the 1963 Pass up The us pageant into a profession as a public speaker and who later on located achievements as a squeaky-clear humorist with a sizable YouTube following, died on Aug. 21 at her residence in Burlington, N.C. She was 77.

The induce was not known, her son, Bailey Bowline, claimed.

Ms. Robertson’s comedic films on YouTube, the place she experienced additional than 340,000 followers, and her stints on SiriusXM Satellite Radio’s comedy channels produced her a beloved figure in family-helpful comedy. She also done around the state, actively playing civic auditoriums, churches and theaters, which include the Grand Ole Opry.

Ms. Robertson, whose initially name was pronounced Jeannie, identified as herself a humorist, not a comic or a comedian, simply because, she stated, she focused on telling tales relatively than just performing bits for laughs.

She taken care of her pageant polish in speaking appearances she did not swear or make crude jokes, alternatively favoring facts of everyday daily life and anecdotes about her family members and friends. Considerably of her substance centered on her spouse, Jerry Robertson, whom she affectionately termed Remaining Mind in homage to his reasonable and system-driven way of imagining.

She talked about her son, nicknamed Beaver, currently being grounded for misbehavior, and about encountering damaged escalators at Philadelphia Global Airport, and she poked enjoyment at her personal Southern accent. Her tales experienced titles like “Don’t Bungee Bounce Naked” and “Mothers vs. Teenage Daughters.”

Ms. Robertson posted her most well known YouTube movie in 2009, a Still left Brain tale identified as “Don’t Deliver a Person to the Grocery Retailer,” which 12 years afterwards had registered a lot more than 16 million sights. In the online video she recounts crafting out a searching record for her spouse and numbering the products needed. He took the job literally, contemplating that the numbers were being quantities, and brought dwelling 25 kilos of sugar and sufficient flour to fill a storeroom.

Soon after the video’s results, demand for Ms. Robertson as a humorist rose, and she labored with Al McCree, a speaker and musician from Nashville, who grew to become her manager right after they achieved at a National Speakers Association occasion. Touring soon became a big component of her specialist lifestyle. At her demise, she had a lot more than 50 long run exhibits booked, Mr. McCree reported.

Ms. Robertson’s humor played effectively at company banquets and with crowds who eschewed edgy jokes for healthful leisure and ended up drawn to her sleek demeanor, Southern drawl and cleanse humor. Recordings of her talking aired on SiriusXM’s Snicker United states of america and Blue Collar Comedy channels.

Jeanne Flinn Swanner, just one of three sisters, was born on Sept. 21, 1943, in Boston to Jim and Cora (Lipscomb) Swanner. She grew up in Graham, N.C., and lived in the condition for most of her lifetime. Her father was a captain in the Marines throughout Planet War II and a former engineering professor who later on ran a gas company. Her mother was a homemaker and served operate the firm.

Jeanne attended Graham High Faculty and then Auburn College in Alabama.

She started entering pageants, and successful a couple of, in university, getting Miss out on North Carolina in 1963. At 6-foot-2, she often joked about her height and reported she was the tallest Overlook The us contestant ever. At the Overlook The us pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., other contestants and administrators praised her backstage humor and onstage grace, producing her a organic for Miss Congeniality.

“People started off talking about how funny I was, and people today wanted to listen to me speak,” Ms. Robertson advised The Sentinel of Carlisle, Pa., in 2011. “That yr I experienced to fall out of school due to the fact there was so much. I gave about 500 shows that year.” Most had been linked to her part as Pass up North Carolina.

She returned to Auburn and graduated in 1967 with a bachelor’s diploma in physical instruction. She taught physical education and learning at superior colleges for practically a 10 years and gave talking engagements on weekends, typically with her son in tow. She then started speaking total time at conferences, for government corporations and at pageants, in which she was a common M.C.

She married Walter Bailey Bowline III in 1965, when they had been both of those pupils at Auburn. The marriage finished in divorce in the early 1970s. She married Mr. Robertson in 1974. He died in June.

In addition to her son, she is survived by two grandsons and her sister, Katherine Swanner.

Ms. Robertson was a trustee at Elon College in North Carolina and energetic in teams like the Nationwide Speakers Association, which gave her the Cavett Award, its optimum honor.

Ms. Robertson experienced a perception of goal when it arrived to telling funny stories. As her son mentioned, “She felt like, if people would choose them selves a lot less critically and the environment all-around them much less critically, everything would be a large amount much better.”