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Marguerite Griffith can’t see well
anymore, but she turns her head to the voices.
A lack of vision doesn’t interfere with her instinct. When her
daughter put Griffith’s Red Hussars drumsticks in front of her, she
picked them up and tapped a rhythm on the glass conference table.
The Cypress Glen nursing home resident’s wheel chair was
positioned at the table, where she could reach patches and other
memorabilia regarding her part in the premier group of Red Hussars. The
drum and bugle corps began assembling in 1929 at Thomas Jefferson High
School and made their debut on Sept. 27, 1930. Female students marched
at games, parades, fairs and civic activities for 63 years.
Jenny Moore, activities director at Cypress Glen, heard Griffith
reminiscing and got her friend to talk more. Griffith landed a coveted
spot on the corps and recalled the excitement about uniforms, moves and
music.
“Everyone was wanting to know about it,” she said.
She got the drums, a hat with a tassel and white slippers.
“We all felt great. Since it was not a school uniform, we were more or
less in a special class. I was proud,” Griffith said.
According to the Red Hussars web site, it was Miss Elizabeth ''Smitty''
Smith, head of TJ’s physical education department, who organized the
group, inspired by a male corps she saw in California with members
dressed like Russian Cossacks. “Hussar” is a Hungarian word for a
type of calvary.
O.P. “Pop” Lantz, band director, wrote the signature song, “Here
We Come,” and taught students how to march and play the drums and
bugles.
Griffith recalled the wait for uniforms. The bill was significantly
higher than expected, so the proud Hussars began raising funds.
Over the years slippers became boots and skirts were shortened to
comply with modern style. In those later years, 1986-’87, Griffith got
to see her granddaughter, Angela, experience life as a Hussar.
Grandmother and granddaughter followed the phrase:
“We are the Hussars, and we couldn’t be prouder.
If you can’t hear us now, we’ll yell a little louder.”
On Red and White Days, Griffith and her granddaughter attended Hussar
reunions. At the first Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas, Griffith was among
the Hussars who reunited. No physical limitations would stop her.
“Mother had to ride in the truck. She couldn’t walk,” her
daughter, Pam Bonin, said.
Griffith was married to Walter D. Griffith, who died about 42 years ago.
Her children are Pam, who lives nearby, and Walter, who lives in Alvin.
Griffith has six grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.
Well into her 80s, Griffith volunteered with the South East Texas
Regional Planning Commission’s RSVP, retired senior volunteer program.
She was a longtime United Board of Missions worker. Bonin recalled her
other talents:
“She sewed. She could make anything. She was a tole painter,”
Bonin said.
New England-based tole is a folk art involving painting on tin and
wooden utensils.
At 94, Griffith has a simple outlook on dealing with what the world
gives you.
“Take life as it comes,” she said.
Once a Hussar, always a Hussar, is a battle cry for hundreds of local
women who still gather come Mardi Gras time. Griffith said she’s
honored to be one of the first of a group that inspired such a legacy.
With all that school time attention Griffith gave to the Hussars, it’s
fair to ask if she had time to devote to studies.
“I was okay. I was an A-B student,” she said.
Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.
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