Connie Bea Hope
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| Connie Bea Hope | |
|---|---|
| Born | Loretta Beatrice Constance Clements August 22, 1904  Mobile, Alabama, U.S.A. |
| Died | January 25, 1993 (aged 88) Mobile, Alabama, U.S.A. |
| Other name(s) | Beatrice Walker Hope |
Connie Bea Hope was the stage name for Beatrice Walker Hope, a Mobile, Alabama television personality and chef on the local TV cooking show "Connie's Cupboard" for WKRG-TV and later on the station's daily midday program Woman's World from 1955 to 1981. After the program ended, she became the station's goodwill ambassador for cooking and food-related events.
[edit] Family Heritage
She was born as Loretta Beatrice Constance Clements on August 22, 1904 to Edward Houston Clements and Margaret Olivia Sims. The Clements were a Catholic family and the Sims were a Baptist family.
She was the great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Rochon and Henriette Colon, Charles Rochon was one of the first four Europeans to establish a permanent settlement on the Mobile River in 1706. The city was relocated to this location five years later. He was also known as the founder of the Dog River plantation, which remained within the family line for more than 100 years. That area today is known as Hollinger's Island. She was the great-great granddaughter of Louis DeMouy, who was the operator of the Lafayette Inn when General Lafayette came to town in 1825. Her genealogy is peppered with descent from the founding generation of Mobile, and indeed of all colonial Louisiana.
She was the great-granddaughter of James Tillman, for whom Tillman's Corner was named and she was the great-granddaughter of Anderson Clements, for whom the Theodore area was once named
She was a fifth cousin, once removed to Jimmy Buffett. She was a 6th cousin, to U.S. Representative T. Hale Boggs, who was also a direct descendant of both Charles Rochon and Henriette Colon. She is 7th cousins, three times removed, to Brett Favre.
[edit] Professional Career
Hope's career around food began as early as a counter position at the Kress & Co. candy store during her teenage years. She left Mobile during the Second World War and returned to work for Morrison's Cafeteria. She became a traveling supervisor for Morrison's later on. She worked for a bakery in the Oakdale area before returning to Kress & Co. to become the store's manager of the lunch counter and soda fountain. She joined WKRG from the very beginning in September 1955 and began hosting "Connie's Cupboard with Bea Hope" along with Estelle Payton as her assistant. In the early years, Payton, an African American, did not appear on camera unless her hands slipped into the shot while setting up or removing utensils. Later, in the 1960s, Payton began to appear on air. She was eventually given third billing on the program's opening titles, given her own microphone, and occasionally offered comments on Hope's demonstrations. The two women were known in the station for their usually good-natured backstage squabbles.
It turns out Hope earned the stage name "Connie Bea" after some viewers began referring to her by that name. Whenever she is not cooking on Channel 5, Hope could be seen with fellow members of two women's Mardi Gras associations or the Dauphin Way Baptist Church. She was recognized by the D'Iberville Chapter of the American Business Women's Association in 1964. Not only was she a charter member, but also the founder of the Mobile Bay chapter of the organization. She died on January 25, 1993 at the age of 88 in a Mobile hospital, leaving behind her daughters Delores and Lorraine, sister Edwina, and extended family.
