Deerlijk says goodbye to Ignace Crombé

Ignace Crombé was best known as the organizer and founder of Miss Belgian Beauty. With that, he competed with the classic Miss Belgium. In 1991, he held the first beauty pageant, which would continue annually until 2007. The following year, the beauty pageant was canceled after several young women stepped out of the contest and Crombé was accused of inappropriate behavior. The West Fleming, raised in Lauwe, tried to get the glamorous competition going again in 2009, but it remained with one edition.

For the much-discussed entrepreneur, the Sint-Columbakerk in the center of Deerlijk was full on Saturday morning. Ex-girlfriend Patricia Govaerts, called Trisha as a singer and a lot younger than Crombé, was present. He started a relationship with her after he divorced Myriam Jacques in 2009, with whom he was married for 24 years and had a daughter Stéphanie. His daughter with Govaerts, Axelle, was present at the funeral, as was Crombé’s last girlfriend Nathalie Vanderhaegen.

Funeral self organized

During the service, Claude Croes, mayor of Deerlijk, took the floor. “When I visited you in the hospital a few days before your death, you were busy organizing your funeral,” he shared. “It had to run smoothly. I recognized the organizer.” The last twelve years Ignace Crombé lived in Deerlijk.

At the age of 65, the media figure died on Tuesday 9 August in the AZ Groeninge in Kortrijk after a months-long battle with pancreatic cancer.