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NO PARKING - PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION - JANUARY 21,1965 |
Where is Kathleen Collins Cuddy now?
"I came to the Crusaders from an all girls CYO corps, The Immaculate Conception Rockettes of Salem MA, after having joined the Cambridge Caballeros just before they disbanded. My entire family was involved in the drum corps activity on the North Shore but I had always wanted to march with a “good corps.” I was attending college in Boston as a commuter student and decided to join the Crusaders for the 1964 season. I aged out in 1966. If you see any pictures from that era, I am the one carrying the flag of Israel. Coming from the North Shore, I believe that I traveled further that any other corps member to get to rehearsals in Boston, which is so different from today. Later, my youngest sister also marched with the Crusaders.
 Being a Boston Crusader was the height of my marching career because I was finally marching with a good corps! We traveled to many national contests in the mid west. We were innovative and were always doing something just a little different from the other corps. We had a collective strength and power that felt as if it were unique to us. I know that I felt more loyalty to and pride in this corps than those in my past, and that loyalty and pride remain in me today. If I could still march, I would, but only for the ‘Saders!
Marching in the Inaugural Parade to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was and is an honor. You feel it from the time you reach DC and spot a familiar site till you pass the Presidential Reviewing Stand and return to the busses. However, there are some things that I recall rather vividly, like how all the snow dropped on DC by a snowstorm on the 20th was totally removed by the 21st, that have little to do with honor. Another memory from that trip is the trouble I was in when I missed curfew because I had gone to meet my parents, who had traveled to DC separately, for dinner. Wanting to preserve the memory of my experience of marching in the parade, I “liberated” a sign from a tree just outside our bus after the parade was over. As I recall, it read: NO PARKING- PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION-JANUARY 21, 1965. Years later I sent for a photo of the corps in the parade from the Johnson Presidential Library and forwarded it along with the sign to the Corps Hall.
My advice for the those members marching in the parade later this month is to recognize that the years of work of many Crusaders have brought to the corps at this time, the honor of being chosen to perform in this parade, so do your best and show your pride in what you are doing as well as pride in your country. Don’t miss curfew. Don’t liberate any signs. Have fun and be safe."
Kathleen is currently a retired Speech Therapist who lives on Cape Cod. She is a volunteer for LUNGevity Foundation and coordinates their BREATHE DEEP BOSTON 5K WALK to raise funds for lung cancer research.
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