Aggies Bid Farewell to Reveille VIII
The Texas A&M community gathered together on the morning of Aug. 30 to pay tribute to the former “First Lady of Aggieland” Reveille VIII, who died on June 25.
During the standing-room only ceremony, held at The Zone Plaza at Kyle Field, speakers including Texas A&M President Michael K. Young, vice president for Student Affairs Daniel J Pugh Sr., Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center director Sonny Presnal, Stevenson Center associate director Ellie Greenbaum, and former mascot handlers John Bush and Ryan Kreider shared their experiences with Reveille VIII and what she meant to both them and the university.
Young thanked those who played a role in caring for Reveille, including the Corps of Cadets, which provided her with care during her “active duty” as mascot, and the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and the Stevenson Center, both of which played a role in caring for Reveille following her retirement in May 2015.
“As important as Reveille is to our sports tradition, she really is much more than that. She represents the Aggie spirit. She’s a symbol of our unity, our loyalty, our support, our commitment, our engagement,” Young said. “The tradition is a wonderful part of what makes A&M so special, and she represented that extraordinarily well. She cemented a bond between hundreds of thousands of Aggies across the globe.
“She also represents our core value of loyalty. By all account Reveille VIII loved her Aggies and her Aggies certainly loved her in return. So today we say goodbye to Reveille VIII as she joins her predecessors here at Kyle Field in an appropriate place where we know that they can follow the game with their own scoreboard every single Saturday,” Young concluded. “They can hear the 12th Man yells, and we know from somewhere they are barking and they are running onto the field with the other seven predecessors.”
Presnal discussed what an honor it was for the CVM’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and the Stevenson Center to get to care for Reveille for three years, and Greenbaum offered insight into Miss Rev’s life during retirement.
“Miss Rev greeted all center visitors at the front door of the center with Aggie hospitality,” Greenbaum said. “She was always generous by allowing visitors to take a photo with her if they asked. Everyone who met Reveille was mesmerized by her beauty and demeanor.
“Reveille also befriended our little 5-pound Chihuahua, Happy, who was 15 years old when Rev arrived. When Happy was recovering from an old age illness, Rev would stood guard over her and made sure that Happy was OK; she took on a motherly persona with her new friend,” Greenbaum continued. “I carry pictures of them sharing a bed together on my phone. They remained good buddies until Happy’s death earlier this year.”
Greenbaum also thanked the Stevenson Center staff who had worked to ensure “Her Ladyship” (a nickname Greenbaum had given Reveille) received the same celebrity treatment in her retirement that she received while on campus.
“Reveille was truly loved by the center staff, present and past,” Greenbaum said. “Reveille truly enjoyed her retirement and showered the center staff with reciprocal love and comfort. I speak for everyone at the Stevenson Center when I say that Reveille proudly embodied the Aggie spirit and enriched our lives tremendously. Words cannot accurately express our love and devotion for this beautiful soul.”
Other distinguished guests who attended included: Texas A&M University System Board of Regents Vice Chairman Elaine Mendoza and her husband Larry Gay, Pugh’s wife Denise, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Commandant Brig. Gen. Joe E. Ramirez Jr., Reveille VIII’s breeders Julie Hinrichsen and Russell Dyke, Texas A&M student body president Amy Sharp, and Corps Commander Adam Buckley.
To watch the service, click here.
