Page 6 College Station, Texas Friday, September 30, 1966
THE BATTAU0
Rev II Gone But Not Forgotte
REV’S OUTFIT PAYS RESPECTS
. . . E-2 attends funeral rites.
Mascot’s Funeral Carried
Unforgettable Elements
QUEEN OF THE CORPS
. young Rev had special doghouse.
By JOHN FULLER
Battalion Staff Writer
It was, in its own way, a golden moment,
with an unmistakable aura of history-in-the-making.
The students filed into Kyle Field quietly.
The scene of so much exultation, such anxious
concentration, such tumultuous applause, was now
one of thoughful reverence. Here, less than 48
hours earlier, these same students had been united,
by waves of indomitable Aggie spirit, with Coach
Gene Stallings; now a different sort of spirit
united coach and team and student body.
Here Reveille II had made her debut, had led
the team onto the field and into victory, had capti
vated audiences for 14 seasons with her own par
ticular brand of spirit. Here, now, the students
paused to remember her.
For the diehard romanticist, the scene rendered
abundant symbolism. It was a decade ago that
Rev was in her heyday; it was then, in the Bear
Bryant era, that she had earned a colorful reputa
tion through her celebrated run-ins with game
officials. Among the outstanding players of that
era were Gene Stallings, Dee Powell, Don Watson,
Loyd Taylor and Charlie Krueger; now Stallings,
Powell, Watson and Taylor were back with the
team as coaches, and Krueger’s younger brother
was starting at tackle. Surely this significance was
not lost on coaches and players, sitting on the
grass across the field from the casket.
As the last of the students were seated, the
Memorial Student Center chimes rang out the
hour, and for an instant they suggested the tolling
of a bell.
The ceremony did, of course, have some of the
outward trappings of a funeral; human nature
would not have it any other way. Company E-2,
traditional keepers of the mascot, held a conspi
cuous place, comparable to that of the family of
the deceased; the pallbearers were also in honor
positions. And Reveille III, like any small child
who cannot understand the meaning of a funeral
and has not learned to grieve, was restless through
out the ceremony, barking first out of curiosity and
thereafter at the echo of her bark.
Jerry Stevens made a brief biographical sketch
of Reveille II, and offered by way of a eulogy a
reading of Dr. John Ashton’s poem “Goodbye
Reveille,” written for the first mascot in 1944.
As the last words of the poem echoed in the
half-filled stadium, the chimes tolled the quar
ter hour.
The minutes that followed, with the word
less and reverent procession to the graveside near
that of Reville I, and with the symbolic turning of
earth by those to whom Rev had meant the most,
were undoubtedly thoughful minutes for the thous
ands of students watching.
Some were probably prompted, for the first
time, to ponder Rev’s symbolizing of the “end of
an era” cliche. She had begun her reign with the
distinction of being “the only girl at A&M,” but
spent her last years with the necessarily altered
nickname “the only girl in the Cadet Corps.” Ironi
cally, although the only difference in the phrases is
the substitution of “Cadet Corps” for “A&M,” it
was also during her stint that the terms ceased
being synonymous.
The shovel was passed from hand to hand.
Slowly, the plain black casket disappeared from
view forever. Students began filing out of the
stadium’s environs, as silently as they had entered
earlier.
The chimes tolled the half hour, and it was
evident from the expressions of those leaving the
graveside, that everyone knew for whom they tolled.
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