The Knights Drum and Bugle Corps

Most of you probably already know about this, but I’m sure a few of you don’t. We have a Facebook Fan page that is now available at the following address: http://www.facebook.com/knightscorps.

Just received word from Fran Castro that her brother Armando passed away last Thursday (9/17).
Here is the obituary from the funeral home’s website:

Armando Contreras Castro passed away September 17, 2009. He was born January 3, 1957, in Amarillo, Texas, to Candelario and Armandina Castro.

Armando resided in the Quad City area of Illinois from 1965-1985. He graduated from United Township High School East Moline IL in 1975. He participated in wrestling, band and National Honor Society. He was a member of the Knights drum and bugle corps from 1977-79. He attended Blackhawk College in East Moline, IL. He was employed at JI Case, Frizell & Parsons and Bandag.

Armando lived in Grand Prairie and Duncanville, Texas, from 1985-2009 and worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas, for twenty-three years. He attended El Centro College in Dallas. He loved to play the saxophone; enjoyed yard work and quenched his thirst for knowledge through reading. His Father, Candelario C. Castro and Step-Father Ralph E. Roberts preceded him in death. His Mother, Armandina C. Roberts, survives Armando, as well as his brother’s Juan (wife Julie) and Alberto (wife Becky) and sisters Ana (husband Rannie Grimm) and Francisca. Armando’s nieces: Genevieve, Megan Rose, Gina, Nichole and nephew’s: Joseph, Alexander, Anthony, Adam and Jahmal.

Visitation is scheduled for Wednesday September 23, 2009 from 7-9 pm at Jaynes Memorial Chapel 811 South Cockrell Hill Road Duncanville, TX 75137. Graveside services are 10:00 am Thursday September 24, 2009 at Restland cemetery 9220 Restland Road, Dallas, TX 75243. Immediately following: a celebration of life will be held at the New Life In Christ Lutheran Church 311 South Cockrell Hill Road Duncanville, TX 75116.

The family requests in lieu of flowers, memoriams may be sent to:
New Life In Christ Lutheran Church
311 South Cockrell Hill Road
Duncanville, TX 75116.

Obituary on QCOnline
Obituary in Dallas Morning News

There has been some talks to form a Knight’s Alumni Organization in the near future. The purpose is 3 fold;

1. Preserve the history and memory of the Knights Drum and Bugle Corps

2. Facilitate future reunions of Knight’s Alum

3. Promote Drum and Bugle Corps, and associated activities (Winter Guard, Drum Corps, Drum Lines, and even Marching Bands). This also includes scholarships to children of Knight Alum so they can march Drum and Bugle Corps, the formation of an alumni corps, or even donating money to a down on their luck type of corps.

To initially help with this moving forward please respond to this with your suggestions.

Thanks
Adam “Banjo” Sporluck (Euphonium 93/94)

On Saturday, September 12, 2009, Western Illinois played Northern Illinois (Football) at Dekalb, IL. Present were three Knights (L to R): Matt Chamberlain, Scott Lawson, and Dan Chamberlain. Also viewable on Facebook.

Just received word from Bob Kruse:

Jane Kruse, long time Knights fan, supporter and Booster club officer and member and mother of Krights member Rick Kruse, 1976- 78, and Knights staff member Bob Kruse, 1977- 1986, passed away July 30, 2009 at the age 86.

Her obituary may be viewed at the following
http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=257164&fh_id=10632
We would appreciate those who knew her to sign her guest book and put any comments they may have.

Thank you.

J.P. Herring just posted this on Facebook, thought that those of you who aren’t on Facebook would like to see it.

Speaking of Facebook, I also wanted to mention that Mike Ochs recently posted a bunch of Knights photos on Facebook. For those of you who are on FB and are friends with Mike, you can view one (of many) of the photo albums at this link.

One more thing, when we last had the “Big” reunion (2006), it was discussed that we would try to do it again every 5 years, which would put the next one in 2011. I know that it’s still 2 years away, but it took a while to get the first one organized, so I just wanted to put the idea out there so everyone knows about it. Hopefully we’ll have more discussion about it as it gets closer.

Two things:

1. I finally got around to updating a bunch of email addresses and adding new people to the email list. Take a look at the Email List page to see if anyone you know has been added.
2. My sister and I were featured in the photo for DCI.org’s DC-Eye Feature for Thursday, May 21 from when we went with the Colts to the presidential inauguration in January.

I’m still working on getting the email list turned into a database, hopefully that’ll make things easier to update. Turns out that WordPress, the software that runs the website, is great for many things, but seems to have a lot of trouble bringing in data from other databases and displaying tables. I’ll keep working on it and let you all know what happens

Thanks for your patience with me in getting the email list updated

I apologize to everyone for not getting this info out until now. Dick was Director of the corps in the early years. His son John was a Baritone player and later Drum Major. His son Jim was a Contra and then an instructor.

Dick W. Headley, 84, of Galva, died at 5:15 a.m. Monday, March 30, 2009, at OSF St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, April 3, at Rux Funeral Home in Galva. The Rev. Ann Champion will officiate. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, April 2, at the funeral home with Masonic rites at 6:45 p.m. Burial will be in Galva Cemetery, where military rites will be accorded by the Galva Fusiliers. Memorials may be made to the Galva Park District or the Galva Historical Society.

Dick was born on Dec. 14, 1924, in Linton, Ind., the son of Gilbert and Inez (White) Headley. He is survived by six children, John (Becky) Headley of Ft. Myers, Fla., Jim (Bonnie) Headley of Galva, Carlin (Robert) Follis of Remsen, Iowa, Cherrie (Richard) Rosander of Bishop Hill, Jeff (Brenda) Puckett of Owasso, Okla. and Brian Headley of Galva; 11 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Janet (James) Steele of Boise, Idaho.

He served his country in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He started as a lumberjack and then as an equipment operator for Sherwood Templeton Coal Co. at the Little John Mine. He also worked for ASARCO at the Allendale and Mecco mines for 35 years.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church and a lifetime member of the Hagburg-Hamlin American Legion and Little John Conservation Club. He had also belonged to the Galva Masonic Lodge, the Galva Historical Society, the NRA and Ducks Unlimited. In earlier years, he belonged to the Kewanee Black Knights Drum and Bugle Corps and served as a director of the Knights Junior Drum Corps.

He was a former mayor and councilman for the City of Galva. He was instrumental in the formation of the Galva Park District and served as a board member. As a member of the Galva American Legion, he helped in the formation of the Avenue of Flags and the Veteran Memorial Brick Program. He was also a longtime member of the Galva Fusiliers, which provided the military rites of local veterans. He was also an avid arrowhead collector and held an extensive collection of these artifacts. This obituary may be viewed and private condolences left at www.ruxfuneralhome.com.

So apparently my knights email was down for the past month or so, but I didn’t actually realize it until a few days ago. I apologize for not getting back to people and getting changes and updates taken care of, but I now have my email fixed. All future emails I should receive just fine. Also, I now have quite a backlog of email updates to make. I’ll get them taken care of as soon as I can, probably in the next few days. I apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your patience while I get caught up on stuff.
Thanks.