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Softly Call the Muster

April 21, 2023

April 21st marks the date that Texas Aggies around the world note the occasion of the passing of Aggies during the previous calendar year. The anniversary of Aggie Muster is held on the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, the final battle of the Texas Revolution. Texas Aggie alumni are known worldwide for their love of school. Texas A&M presently has over 508,000 former students who claim Aggieland as their home. Upon enrollment, each student is assigned their college graduation class year to accompany their name, which is forever how they are known for the remainder of their lifetimes, as Class of 2027 for those who enter this coming fall semester.

Once each year, since 1943 , Aggie Muster ceremonies statewide marked the passing of Aggies in the preceding year honor those who have left the ranks of active former students. At the main campus, the ceremony honoring Aggies is now held in Reed Arena, while many area residents recall attending the old G. Rollie White Coliseum. Across Texas, individual Aggie Clubs host an annual ceremony honoring those from geographical areas who are best known to their hometowns. As candles are lit, the names of those who have passed away are read aloud, and one or more designated persons will answer the Roll Call with “Here.” They are important, they are regarded, and they are remembered forever as Aggies.

More than just a number, your Aggie class year denotes that you belong, forever, to a school to which you pledge your loyalty as an undergraduate. What used to be considered the Aggie Code of Honor, “Aggies do not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do,” is a credo that has become enhanced by the addition of what RELLIS stands for, six core values of “respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and selfless service.”

The Code of Honor lives on at A&M, preserved by the keepers of the flame, the TAMU Corps of Cadets. The admiration for and love of Aggies that is so fervent to those who possess it is something that people say that, outside you cannot see inside, and inside, you see no other way. School pride and love of education and educators runs deep and permanently among Aggies, as with virtually any other Texas-based school, where residents take their school pride seriously, if not defiantly, particularly at sports competitions.

However, Aggies are unique in that once you embrace the school and its traditions, along with it comes a fierce determination to preserve what we perceive as the “best” of what the school is. Over the close to 150 years of the school’s founding, we’ve gone from “college” to “university” and expanded the experience of what it means to be part of a larger system. The main school was once the only institution considered “A&M” and today, it is a vast ecosystem of campuses, similarly branded and able to include all those who embrace Aggie traditions.

When all is said and done, whether it is 1943, 1983, 2003, or 2023, one thing is sure. The tradition of Aggie Muster will continue. All those who have passed away in the calendar year will be remembered forever and their memories honored. The legacy and tradition of Aggieland in the hearts and minds of thousands will continue as long as Texas A&M University endures, to which they will always belong. Softly call the muster…

 

Cody D. Jones ‘02

Owner & Community Member.

New Beginnings, Clean Slate Begin This New School Year

August 27, 2024
As longtime Brazos Valley residents know, we’ve been taking the back streets the past two weeks now, and until after the first home game traffic settles back, you can count on our staying there. The annual ritual of Back-to-School brings yet another 1500 Aggies to the community, much to the delight of local business owners, who survive the summer to reach the thriving days of fall and summer.

Olympic Times and Trials —What We Learn and Can Teach From Them

July 29, 2024
It’s an exciting first weekend we just experienced, with the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. The week of the Olympics landed in the midst of a very busy series of news cycles that document world events and daily news. Good and bad news abounds, everywhere you look it seems. You just have to pick and choose what you want to let into your day. Yet, it’s important to be aware of the world around us, because the earliest displays of the lessons we teach our children revolve around how we respond to the ups and downs of life.

Independence, Freedom, and Choices

July 4, 2024
This is the day when we break out the red, white, and blue décor and display our pride in being Americans with the rest of our community, same as we do every year at this time. Across the Brazos Valley some of our neighborhoods are staging their own parades and parents have helped their children decorate their bike handles with streamers. Sound systems are playing “The Stars and Stripes Forever” as a parade route forms. Pedal cars are moving into position behind the four- and five-year-old drivers maneuvering into position. Electric cars driven by Batman or John Deere III slide into view.

Why We Attend — The Value of a Visitation

July 1, 2024

The Love Wrapped Inside My Father’s Arms

June 16, 2024
Just looking at these two photos, separated by three decades, I’m overwhelmed to think of how it still just seems like yesterday that my dad was loading up the station wagon, ready to drive me and our soccer team all across the back roads of Texas as we competed across the state, trying our best to stand out.

Mother’s Day — A Promise of Remembrance

May 12, 2024
Of all the women in our lives, mothers certainly hold a position of supreme love and regard that often are set far above others we hold dear in life. Mothers are, frankly, our first very best friends and throughout life, others may come close but there’s a place that only they can hold dear in our hearts.

Who Will Be Your Informant (When the time comes)?

April 29, 2024
In the past few weeks, I’ve heard from high school friends that two of our classmates had died. This is not uncommon by itself, but the surprise came as I learned that one of our classmates had died two years ago, and another some three months ago. Yet, not one person we knew in common had known of their passing before now, so none of us who grew up together had any idea that we’d lost two “of our own.” That meant sorrow upon sorrow at the delay in learning of their passing.

Joy in the Morning: Easter Blessings for All

March 31, 2024
Just as excitedly as children rush from their beds on Easter morning to see what might be awaiting them in their Easter baskets from the Easter bunny, adults have reason to approach this blessed Sunday with similar enthusiasm. The promise of the memory of the stone that was rolled back, revealing an empty tomb brings to all of us the reminder that Christ rose from the dead and God took him back home to be with him. The victory of the resurrection is our guarantee as adults that we can celebrate each year.

Teaching Our Children About Holy Week — Introduction to Palm Sunday

March 24, 2024
Now that our son Rowen is two years old, Chelsea and I are beginning to introduce him to the elements of a regular church worship service that occur with regularity each year. True, one can only make a preliminary impression on a youngster with respect to helping him or her understand the rituals we as adults have grown up with, all of our lives. The occasion of Palm Sunday gives us a chance to help Rowen know that on Palm Sunday, we are going to be seeing everyone we know waving a large palm frond as we come into the church.

Social Media Footprints — Have You Planned for What Happens When You’re Not Here?

March 19, 2024
Over the years we’ve all become more friendly with social media, whether we’re texting our family and friends or whether or not we are adding a smiley face to the post of our latest grandchild playing a sport, and we share it on all our outlets too, because you know, we are proud!
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