Muster Back On: Aggies Thrilled To Gather In Person Again

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX — For Aggies in Montgomery County and throughout Texas, Wednesday's Muster will be a little more meaningful this year.

Aggie Muster, held every year on April 21 to commemorate Texas A&M students and former students who died the previous year, is an opportunity for Aggies to get together to reminisce about their time at the school and posthumously honor their fellow Aggies.

The tradition has its origins in the late 1800s as a remembrance of the Battle of San Jacinto, and by the 1920s, Muster was celebrated across the country. A gathering of Aggies on April 21, 1942, while under fire on Corregidor Island in the Philippines further solidified Muster as a part of Aggie lore and tradition.

The largest Muster each year is held at Reed Arena on the College Station campus, but A&M Clubs in counties all over the country and across the globe hold their own gatherings to connect with local people who share a common bond. The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to those annual plans in 2020, though, with many clubs opting not to hold even a virtual event.

The Montgomery County A&M Club was no different. The club’s Muster Chairman, Adam Koch of the Koch Insurance Group in The Woodlands, said organizers directed participants to watch the livestream of the campus Muster last year since they didn’t yet have the infrastructure in place to do a livestream of the Montgomery County Muster.

The club planned to show a video of E. King Gill, the famous 12th Man, giving a speech from a previous Muster and have his granddaughter say a few words as well. Gill was a student who came to the sidelines from the stands to suit up as a substitute when injuries threatened to leave the Texas A&M football team without enough players in their 22-14 win over Centre College in the 1922 Dixie Classic, inspiring another cherished A&M tradition, The 12th Man.

For Koch and the rest of the Montgomery County A&M Club, missing the in-person event last year was a disappointing, if necessary, precaution.

Much of the planning for this year’s Muster, which will be held at the North Montgomery County Community Center in Willis, was already in place because of last year’s cancellation. The new keynote speaker will be Terry Weaver, who graduated from A&M’s Mays Business School after a tour in Kuwait and Iraq as a combat medic in the Marine Corps. Weaver was involved in sales and marketing after graduation and published his first book, The Evolution of A Leader, in 2019. He published two more books in 2020 and is now filming for the upcoming TV series Breaking Strongholds in Montgomery.

Koch said the excitement for the in-person event is palpable among the club members he has spoken with after missing out on the experience last year.

“There’s a sense of camaraderie and community that immediately comes from having that Aggie Ring, wearing that Aggie hat,” Koch said. “Being in Missouri, being in New York or wherever, you will find Aggies everywhere, so it’s important to have that connection. Muster allows us to come together in one place, and it’s going to be a grand time.”

The Montgomery County A&M Club capped Muster attendance registration at 250 people as a precaution for COVID-19. Koch said he expected slightly more people to attend after accounting for walk-ups, estimating about 275 people, still below the 350-person capacity at North Montgomery County Community Center.

Koch said that wearing a mask is recommended for those in attendance outside of when eating or drinking.

“With more and more people becoming vaccinated, it’s made a world of difference, especially with the older folks, to come out and enjoy life again,” Koch said. “I’ve got plenty of friends that during this whole ordeal, they weren’t moving until they were vaccinated. I remember the celebration for them alone when they went to church for the first time in 10 months or more. We’re going to have a lot of people that haven’t been able to … be around their friends and family. This is a time that we can all do that, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

It also will be a celebration for 24 incoming A&M freshmen in the Montgomery County area as the Montgomery County A&M Club will honor its scholarship recipients for high school seniors in the class of 2021.

This year’s recipients are:

• Luke Blume, Conroe
• Kate Coleman, Lake Creek
• Adelaide Danna The Woodlands
• Ashton Demny, Magnolia
• Adam Fenn, Magnolia
• Tabitha Ford, Magnolia
• Caroline Freeman, Legacy Prep
• Ashley Gibson, The Woodlands
• Margaret Hruska, College Park
• Lauren Kasel, Porter
• Danae Lesner, Willis
• Samantha Lo, College Park
• Berenice Lopez, Caney Creek
• Jack Northcott, The Woodlands
• Thomas Osborn, Magnolia
• Jackson Mills, The Woodlands
• Carla Reyes Ortiz
• Vicente Rios, Caney Creek
• Santiago Rueda, Magnolia West
• Chloe Short, Grand Oaks
• Ryan Stephens, Montgomery
• Madyson Vaughn, Willis
• Thorin Ward, Magnolia
• Reagan Woolridge, Oak Ridge

“Their families get to experience this for the first time for many of them,” Koch said. “They get to experience what that spirit is. What it means to be an Aggie. What it means to have a community that’s not direct family but becomes a family because of our experiences together. I’m excited to get back to that normalcy of Muster.”