Laura Thomas (nee Moorcroft), who died in early March shortly before her 90th birthday, overcame opposition from her convent school to be crowned as the town's rose queen in August 1929.
Her son, Michael, 64, said: "She was attending a Rhyl Convent School when she was chosen to be rose queen.
"When the nuns got wind of this, two called at her house telling my mother's father (Samuel Moorcroft) he must forbid it or they would expel her, which met with her father's point blank refusal and my mother became rose queen. The school did not carry through its threat to expel her and she completed her education there."
As a child, Laura grew up in Rhyl along Victoria Road and later Sea Bank Road and was taught tap dancing and ballet by Madame Lewis.
Her talents were such she was the subject of a film in a local cinema, performing ballet steps that would be forbidden today because of the potential damage to developing bones.
She went on to work in a hospital in Rhyl for children evacuated from Liverpool during the Second World War and at Plas Coch Nursing Home near St Asaph.
She also founded the successful St Asaph rose day, which flourished for many years.
In 1942 Laura married Tim Thomas, a sergeant at Kinmel Park Camp, with the two remaining happily married until Tim died three years ago.
The couple went on to live in Rhuddlan, St Asaph, Leeds, Rhos, Colwyn Bay before settling back in Rhuddlan on the Highlands Estate. Laura's brother, Leslie, ran the New Inn in Rhuddlan for many years.
After her husband's death, Laura moved to Retford to be close to her daughter, Elizabeth, 62. She died in Doncaster Royal Infirmary on March 6 and was brought back to North Wales for her funeral at St Mary's Church, Rhuddlan, with her ashes spread in Rhuddlan Lawn Cemetery.
n If you have any memories of the rose queens' pageant in 1929 or know the whereabouts of Laura's train bearers, call The Journal on 01492 523878 or email editor@rhyljournal.co.uk.