Irene Dempsey, 73, who danced as a Las Vegas showgirl, sang with Frank Sinatra and modeled in the pages of Vogue Magazine, died of complications from surgery Monday, Feb. 18, in Maui, Hawaii. Mrs. Dempsey left her family’s California dairy farm at 17. She began her career as a singer in Los Angeles and briefly had a nightly radio show before becoming a showgirl in Las Vegas. She got a big break when big band leader Charlie Barnet picked her as the lead singer for his orchestra. Mrs. Dempsey toured with him and the band through the late 1950s and early 1960s. She appeared in a number of shows including the Ziegfeld Follies and with Frank Sinatra and Frank Sennes’ Moulin Rouge, said her daughter, Cindy Irwin. Always adventurous, Mrs. Dempsey left Las Vegas for New York, where she modeled for several years. In the early 1970s, she was attending a party in Manhattan when she met Joseph Dempsey, who was to be her husband of 28 years. After their marriage, the couple moved to Chicago, and Mrs. Dempsey gave up show business to raise her daughter and stepsons. She took up golf and was remembered at her club for hitting three holes-in-one. Family and friends remember her sharp wit, her willingness to shake up convention, her great love for animals and, above all, her kindness to others. In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Dempsey is survived by her stepsons, Jay, Jack and Daryl; and five grandchildren.
