Former band members know this.. but I was wondering if everyone remembered it. It's important history.

When President Kennedy came to Houston the night before he was assassinated in Dallas, the Waltrip band played for him at a fundraising dinner.

They were the last band to perform for him while he was alive. There is a framed picture of the music played and a photo of the President (if memory serves me correctly) in the band hall. I HOPE it's still there!!!

My brother Larry was in the band at the time and had that great honor!

what a great memory! i never heard that before and now want someone to go see if the picture is still there in the band hall! wow--thanks for sharing that...denise m.

I figured that some in our class would not know about it .. unless they were in band or had a sibling who was in band before them.

Hope someone comes on here and tells us that the picture is still there!!

What a great memory, Gail, and so timely as another anniversary of Nov 22 passes us. I remember watching the reception for President Kennedy on television that night and the Waltrip Band playing for it. Ed Cearly (deceased) was the Drum Major. Our class did not join the Ram band until Fall 1966.

I am now just as curious about seeing if that photo is still in the Band Hall. A few years ago I picked up my son at a science convention at a Marriott Hotel in Ft. Worth. There was a historical marker there as the hotel where Kennedy spent his last night before the assassination. So he must have traveled that night after the event from Houston. I wonder how many of us actually realized how history was being made at that time.

That is so awesome that you saw it on TV! I don't recall seeing it and I think with brother Larry being in the band, I would have remembered.

Was Bert Roth the director at the time?

I am pretty certain that Bert Roth had been the director since Waltrip opened. Bert continued through until our senior year when he was offered a Principal position at an elementary school. Robert Lee becam Band Director at Waltrip our senior year. Roth continued to direct the Rice Band for a number of years, at least through '73 cause I remember him apologizing for the show insulting the Aggies. I was on the other side at the time. But if you go to the the Rice MOB website, they still talk about that day when the Aggies had the Rice Band trapped in the tunnel and had to be taken out in food service vans for their safety, but I digress.   I think Woelfel and Gandin were in the MOB as Rice students, but had  already moved on before that game.

I ran down the following account from Waltrip grad Truman Spring Jr. with regard to the Kennedy assassination:

"My Waltrip High School band had played "Hail to the Chief" and the national anthem for President Kennedy at a banquet honoring Congressman Albert Thomas on Thursday evening, the night before he was assassinated. It was actually the second time our award-winning band (under director Bert Roth) had played for JFK. It was an impressive evening, so the next day during 5th period while I was in the school library, Principal Gordon Cotton made the announcement over the PA system that the President had been shot in Dallas. Silence took over the school. Many of my Junior classmates and others cried unashamedly. What a privilege that I had the opportunity to honor President Kennedy on the last night of his life!"

 The photo is of President Kennedy speaking at the Rice Hotel in Houston on Nov 21.

Wow Bruce! Thanks so much for sharing that!! What a great memory from Truman Spring.

Yes, Bert Roth was director of the MOB for quite awhile after we graduated. I remember the escapade with the Aggies... the one he had to apologize for.. but not the other one! That's too funny! (well, maybe not at the time!)

The Waltrip Ram band was a mini-MOB itself! We did similar drills, but nothing to get us into trouble!