Praesidium

"FRIENDS ! ROMANS ! COUNTRY MEN ! Lend Me Your Ears. We print here the picture of the PRAESIDIUM COLOR GUARD of Riverview, Michigan, to praise them, not to bury them inside of these pages.
Lances and sabres flash, banners flair, drums roll and helmets gleam, as the Praesidium, a precision drill team dressed in Roman costumes marches down the line, responding to the crisp commands given in Latin.
The Praesidium was organized in Riverview, Michigan. in October 1961. It is composed of 60 young ladies between the ages of 10 and 18, eight of whom are original members of the group.
When the group adopted a Roman theme, they chose the appropriate dress and a Latin name (pronounced pry-sidi-um) which means Emperor's guard. Added to this clever device of using Latin commands, which baffles other drill teams, and sometimes even the judges, when they meet in competition.
The Praesidium are sponsored by American Legion Post 398 of Riverview; Riverview Moose Lodge 1387; the Riverview Dept of Parks and Recreation, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2222 of River Rouge.
The girls put in many long hours of practice which paid off last summer when they won the Junior VFW State Championship in Muskegon. In addition, they placed sixth in the American Legion state competition and placed 16th in a field of 27 at the VFW National Championships held in Cleveland.
A Praesidium rule requires one chaperone for each six girls when the group goes on out of town trips. Accommodations are usually arranged in motels, preferably one with swimming pools. Each year the group sponsors its own color guard show at Riverview Community High School.
Enthusiasm is so great with the girls, that formation of a drum and bugle corps is planned for next year. The Praesidium already has a drum line.
Milton Crassweller, who founded the group, is a former member of the Edison Lamplighters, a drum and bugle corps sponsored by Detroit Edison. When the Lamplighters disbanded, many of its members organized young people into similar groups, and many of them are still very active in various groups in Michigan.
Crassweller is business manager for the group, as well as instructor. Other instructors are James Paul of Wyandotte; Hugh Sloan of Detroit; and Robert Jobes of Riverview. Don Clark, also of Riverview, serves as quartermaster."

[from the April 1965 issue of Drum Corps Journal c/o Duane C.]

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