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Queen's Maid Quorum

We were glad to hear from Judy (Perry) McDonald, who now lives in Westwood, MA.  She was wondering if we would include information about the Queen's Maids in the newsletter.  Well, Judy, here is a picture and history of the Holy Trinity Queen's Maids extracted from the Second Annual Cavalcade of Drum Corps Program, August 21, 1955.  (The Cavalcade of Drum Corps was the annual competition sponsored by all the Holy Trinity units.)

Holy Trinity Queen's Maids - 1955 History of the Holy Trinity Queen's Maids

After the reorganization of the boys' unit in the summer of 1951, the formation of an all girls' unit was contem- plated to replace the baton-twirling section that had been part of the original Corps.  The plan, however, was rather dormant until March 17th of the following year, when some of the girls wanted a corps in which they could take part.  Accordingly with the approval of Fr. Carr, and the supervision of Fr. Ignatius F. Pennisi (shown in front of the Color Guard in the photo), a group of girls was soon organized to form a Fife, Bugle and Drum Corps.  So fast did the work prosper, that about a month later the girls made their first appearance on April 19, 1952. The future of the corps, however was not smooth sailing, but rather a hard and continuing struggle.  There was the struggle with young girls, most of whom were in middle grammar school, in undergoing discipline and in braving rough weather and long marches.  There was the struggle for resources to keep equipment and uniforms apace with modern corps.  There was the struggle to provide adequate teaching in the various parts of a corps' performance.  There was a struggle in maintaining the girls' confidence against discreditors who believed that the corps would not succeed, an opinion that was proven false by subsequent events. After Pope Pius XII, toward the end of the Marian Year, proclaimed the new feast of the Queenship of Mary, Mother Of God, the girls' corps took the name: Queen's Maids.  Under that name they continually improved to the extent that they were awarded First Prize in their class at the last CYO competition. We hope you enjoyed this article as much as we enjoyed producing it.  If you would like more coverage of the Queen's Maids, please write to let us know what's happening.  You can contact us at the return address on the mailing label.