I never planned to be part of a living legend. I never even thought of myself as part of history, certainly never thought of myself as famous in any sense of the word. Yet, each year in August when the Melody Maid reunion is held in Beaumont, I find more and more people anxious to come celebrate the existence of the Melody Maid organization, and to share with us the sheer joy of knowing Eloise Milam, founder and director of the group of young women who entertained throughout Texas, the United States and in foreign countries for 22 years, from 1941–1963. And joy it is.
“Girls” is what we were then, and each year, as we trek to Beaumont, meeting at Julie Rogers theater to sing and share memories, seek support for recent struggles and celebrate with one another over success, “girls” we become again, at least in our eyes, and in Eloise’s, through the magic of shared experiences and love which allow us all to see one another as we once were.
Voices change through the years and we are grey-haired “girls” with grandchildren, but all of us love being, again, in the atmosphere of love, acceptance, encouragement and “show-woman-ship” that is Eloise.
In preparation for a Sunday performance at her church, we are exhorted to remember our vowels, to avoid grimacing as we sing, “Don’t screw up your face, it won’t make any difference in the sound and it makes you look funny,” and to leave off the ending “s” sound to avoid hissing. I am 16 again.
Eloise undertook to educate us in much more than music and social graces. Her methods for developing girls into poised, intelligent, charming and educated young women should be studied and replicated in every school system today.
We learned much more than music, shared much more than travel. Our memories as Melody “matrons” of our Melody Maid days always include reminiscing about how much Eloise meant in each of our lives.
Eloise was our mentor, our mother, our director, our dictator, our enthusiastic supporter and our most severe critic. Her one aim was to instill into each of her girls the desire to achieve all we could be, in every way.
From her we learned manners that still stand us in good stead. Her expectations of our behavior certainly included the usual standards, strict morals, no smoking, drinking, or ugly talking, as well as kindness, courtesy, compassion, honesty, devotion, dedication, and hard work.
Her attention to our character development was the key to her success with us and to ours in the world. She knew we could go anywhere, be seen anywhere, be with anyone, meet military officers of any rank, greet politicians and talk to hometown guys without embarrassing ourselves, our families, our organization or our country. What better goal could any educational process have? We lived up to her expectations, we become those expectations, and we live now, lives that are daily enriched by those early lessons.
Darby Kethan has a master's degree in child development, and has experience as a social worker, educator of young children, educational consultant, and as a professional trainer for a national educational foundation providing professional development to teachers. Visit her website at darbykethan.com.
