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I was a fish in Company E-2 in spring 1971. We had taken Reveille III to lunch and were entering Dorm 10 when she decided she just had to go to the bathroom (a significant number two). We all squatted just inside the door until she was done and then went down the hall to get materials to clean up.

Simultaneously and without our knowledge, one of our juniors was harassing some freshmen from C-2 who were also returning from chow. It was their privilege to quad anyone who harassed them in that way. As they raced into the dorm to get Bruce Clay ’72, they slipped on the mess, fell down and spread it all across the hall. The entire group, in fish unity, followed and slipped in sequence. To this day, they think it was a trap, but it was just Reveille!

Reveille VII was in our wedding! She led the procession as we got married in front of the Sul Ross statue on campus. She gave a small bark, but we all agreed class wouldn’t be dismissed! There’s a backstory to her appearance on our special day: I had actually booked a bridal portrait session on campus a few weeks earlier and asked for her to be there. However, her mascot corporal overlooked the session and didn’t show up, which was upsetting being in a full wedding gown for pictures. He said he’d make it up to me. I told him, “Well, the next time I’m in my dress is on my wedding day, so come then.” He gladly accepted and delivered. It was so fun for all the Aggies in attendance to have Miss Rev in the wedding. When we tell people that story, they have no doubt that we are die-hard Aggies. My husband, Chris ’97, proposed under the Century Tree!
 

I remember driving to a football game in Austin with Reveille III in the backseat of my husband’s car with her mascot corporal, my husband’s “old lady” (roommate). I loved her so much!

At parades, Reveille III would inevitably start barking only upon the battalion commander’s preparatory commands! We’d all have to listen carefully to discern the commands of execution amidst her barking and the adjacent battalions’ commands. She never seemed to do that unless we were formed in line—shoulder to shoulder abreast with the entire Corps of Cadets—on parade on the drill field, our most formal presentation. Someone usually uttered, under their breath, “That damn dog!”

In 1956, Reveille II lived with A Quartermaster in my dorm with our Company Commander, Sammy Netterville ’55. I saw her every day!

A special memory involving Reveille IV was knowing that she, as the highest-ranking cadet, was on the fourth floor in Dorm 4 with Company E-2. We, the E-1 Jocks, were on the first floor, and it felt neat to greet her every now and then with a, “Howdy, Miss Reveille, ma’am” circa 1976 to 1978.

Many years after I graduated from Texas A&M, I accompanied a friend and her daughter to campus as she was about to start her freshman year. We were in the MSC when Reveille VII and her mascot corporal walked in. I was in awe to see Aggie royalty up close, take a picture with her and visit with her corporal. He was so gracious to give me a few minutes with her. I was on campus during Reveille IV’s reign and saw her many times from a distance but never had as close an encounter with her as I did with Reveille VII in the MSC that afternoon. 

Reveille VII came to the Navarro County A&M Club meeting in December 2006 during Christmas break. I invited our Navarro College mascot, a French bulldog named Beauregard, to the meeting with his handler. I was delighted to see Reveille up close and personal since my family raised collies when I was a girl. For dinner that evening, her mascot corporal had gone to Chili’s, and Reveille had a hamburger patty while sitting on a chair at the table with them.

In fall 1979, I rode to Lubbock on a chartered bus for the football game against Texas Tech. Reveille IV and the mascot corporal were also on the bus, and I ended up next to them for a while. Reveille hopped up on my lap and fell asleep. The mascot corporal assured me that it was okay to put her down on the floor if she was bothering me, but of course I was enjoying this rare and privileged encounter way too much to even consider it. I still remember how soft and luxurious her fur coat was! It’s one of many fond memories of my days at Texas A&M.

In 1991, I was a fourth-year veterinary student on a neurology rotation when in came Reveille V. She had been observed having some mobility issues, and we got the call. I was honored to help examine her alongside the department head and was so impressed with how attentive her mascot corporal was. I studied her condition carefully because I knew we couldn’t leave a stone unturned to get an explanation for her concerns. Everything turned out well; she was placed on a medication, and back to her duties she went. That case is the high point of my veterinary school tenure!

Our dad, Roland Madeley ’35, arrived at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1931, about the same time as the first Reveille. He often told us stories about her, including how she had the “run of the campus” and always pranced ahead of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band at football games.
 

Other than having her bark in one of my business classes and having the professor dismiss the class, my greatest Reveille memory was when an E-2 buddy of mine brought Reveille VIII to Central Park to play with my dogs. I went from seeing Reveille be so regal and reserved to seeing her be an overjoyed dog running around chasing balls and frolicking. That’s a memory I won’t forget!

Reveille III died of a pancreas ailment on May 31, 1975, but her funeral wasn’t held at Kyle Field until students returned to campus in September. As commander of the Silver Taps team my senior year, I thought it was fitting and necessary to play Taps for Reveille, but I wanted to do it privately without a lot of hoopla. So, one night after she was buried, I donned my sharpest uniform and invited just a few senior buddies from the band and Company E-2 to meet me at her gravesite at Kyle Field. Right at midnight, I played Taps for Reveille with all the heart I could put into it and then quietly walked back to my dorm.

In a special section of the Houston Chronicle on Oct. 12, 1975, there was an article about Reveille III’s funeral on Sept. 9. On the cover is a full-page photo of cadet Bob Vanderberry ’78 with Reveille IV, then only 5 months old, at the ceremony. The article ended with a poem combined from “Goodbye Reveille” by Dr. John Ashton and “Taps for Reveille” by Blocker Trant. The first part of the poem goes:
 

During the 2021 winter break, my son was picking up something he’d forgotten at his dorm. Campus was deserted. As I waited, I saw Reveille X and her mascot corporal crossing the Quad. I started to approach them but realized I wasn’t wearing a mask. I stopped walking and said that I wouldn’t pet her, but he said I could see Miss Rev anyway. I bent down and gave her a good scratch behind the ears. As I stood up, she jumped at me. He said it meant she wanted to play. I got on my knees and spent the next few minutes “ruff” housing with the First Lady of Aggieland—a cherished memory to this day.

In 1959, Company E-2 moved with the Second Brigade to the four dorms near Northgate. At that time, the Corps of Cadets met in formation for each meal, and the Second Brigade would march to Sbisa Dining Hall. Not only did Reveille II march, but another dog with only one front leg would show up for every meal formation barking and jumping around. Someone named the dog Tripod, and Tripod entered Sbisa with various outfits. Hiding under tables and receiving “handouts,” he or she enjoyed a great meal three times a day. The rumor was that Tripod had escaped from the veterinary hospital!