By Kim Bryan
Journal contributor
It’s a new season of gridiron spectacle for the Homewood High School Patriot Band, which takes an unprecedented step with its newest halftime show.
It’s the first time the band has bestowed such an honor, according to Band Director Ron Pence.
To use music in celebrating Burton’s and Wade’s decades of service is the band’s way to recognize the “shining spirit” of volunteerism that is the bulwark of the band’s success, Pence said.
The band debuted its 2014-2015 performance at the halftime of the Aug. 22 season opener at Decatur High School. Though the Pats lost a hard-fought contest 13-10, the Patriot band, more than 350 strong, entertained the capacity crowd with its musical performance. Likewise, the Star Spangled Girls’ poise and precise performance drew an ovation from the home team spectators.
The band members and Star Spangled Girls wowed the audience in style in uniforms lovingly made for them by Burton.
Burton began her tour of duty in 1972, stepping up to teach 22 members of the inaugural team of Star Spangled Girls–including her daughter, Loretta–to sew.
The Star Spangled Girls were the vision of Homewood High physical education teacher Cindy Wade, who had created a dance team at Shades Valley High. Wade demanded precision equal to that of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. Burton, an exceptional seamstress who had learned to sew as a little girl, insisted the hems of the girls’ uniforms be equally precise.
At the time, outfits were either made by dressmakers or ordered from factories, Cindy Wade said.
“Mrs. Burton would guide the Spangles as they did their own sewing. It was a miracle. She taught them all with great results,” she said.
After her daughter graduated, Burton kept needle and thread handy. When her son Keith joined the Marching Patriots as a drummer, she used her expertise to hone a distinctive look for the band uniforms.
Burton’s research of Revolutionary War-era clothing enabled her to fabricate authentic touches for the band’s store-bought uniforms. She fashioned custom-made ascots and designed and crafted the plumes that adorn the Patriots’ tricorn hats. The specially-tailored drum major jackets also bear her unmistakable touch.
Burton enlisted her husband Gene to “make magic” for the band. An engineer by trade, Gene Burton designed and built uniform racks, field show platforms, epaulets and the Burtons’ signature red upholstered buttons for the hats and coats.
Before he passed away this past February, Gene Burton meticulously handcrafted hundreds of those buttons, ensuring a plentiful supply for the future. Thanks to the Burtons’ efforts, the school has been able to extend the life of uniforms dating from the 1970s and 1980s.
“Band students may come and go,” Pence said, “but our band uniforms are who we are.”
Sewing for the band has also allowed Burton to see the world, she said. During her 42 years with the band, she has traveled to Ireland and twice to London. Band trips have taken her to three Rose Parades in Pasadena, national presidential and state inaugurations, and seven Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades in New York.
Burton is a key part of the band and has contributed to its extraordinary success, said Michael Haden, a 17-year-old senior French horn and mellophone player.
“The fact that our band has performed for literally millions of people still stuns me at times,” he said. “We have played on international stages many times. That experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Burton receives plenty of praise for her commitment to Homewood’s young people. It comes not only from band members but from children she taught for as many years as a Sunday school teacher at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Pence said.
“It’s my pleasure,” Burton said. “I’ve loved every minute of it. I assure you, I receive far more than I give.”
Though perhaps less visible than Burton, Buddy Wade was no less enthusiastic about the Homewood Patriot Band.
Married to the original Star Spangled Girl, Buddy jumped at the chance to be a part of the show.
“Buddy was so proud of me and the Star Spangled Girls,” Cindy Wade said. “His proudest moment was seeing his (daughter) Katie Wade on the Star Spangled Girl line and seeing her sons in the band now. Wade Bexley is a senior, tenor sax and section leader; Hogan Bexley is a drummer.”
Buddy Wade planned his work around attending every event, Cindy Wade said. He cheered for band members, but he also taped ankles, fetched ice and provided moral support.
Buddy Wade was a registered pharmacist, entrepreneur and State Farm insurance agent for more than 40 years.
No matter how hectic his schedule was, friends said, he always found time for children.
There was one side of Buddy’s generosity not everybody saw, Cindy Wade said. He made a special effort to secure and donate funds to guarantee every band member could afford to travel to those shows in exotic locales.
Homewood’s first game this season was a bittersweet occasion for Homewood’s band director.
“This was the first game in 18 years that Buddy Wade wasn’t on the band bus,” Pence said.
Designing the band’s halftime show on the theme “Southern Explosion,” Pence chose two songs with the flavor of New Orleans–“I’ll Fly Away” and “When the Saints Go Marching In”–to commemorate the life of Louisiana State University graduate Buddy Wade.
For Burton, only one song would do–a classic tune written by former Louisiana Gov. Jimmie Davis.
“’You Are My Sunshine’ is how we feel about her,” Pence said.
Though Burton couldn’t make the trip to Decatur for the halftime show’s premiere, Cindy Wade did. She said she was thrilled by the tribute to Buddy.
“Not only did I relish the music, especially ’The Saints,’ but the energy of it all and knowing that the kids cared enough to do that,” she said.
She said she was especially proud that their grandsons, Homewood High students Hogan and Wade Bexley, were performing with the band as part of the tribute.
“I know Buddy was around there somewhere, watching,” she said.
