Davis led Dalton High all-girl band as head majorette

Donna Dale Davis has reached her mid-90s. When you hit milestones like that, you’ve got some stories to tell.

The Marshallville resident, long ago a student at Dalton High School and the first head majorette in the school’s all-girl marching band, does not disappoint in that department. She has fond recollections of her role in the band, which started in fall 1947.

Among the memories is having to deliver the walking papers to the last three boys in the band.

“We said, ‘Let’s be different,’” Davis said. “We told the three boys about it. We said, ‘Do you care?’ I think they kind of wanted to stay in it, but it wasn’t a big deal.”

For nearly two decades that followed, Dalton had an all-girl band. It was as unique then as it would be now.

As has been documented here and other places, the need for the all-girl band arose when Dalton Band Director Victor Gerber saw all his male musicians were playing football, or nearly so. In 1947 the band emerged as a single-gender force.

During its 20 years of existence, the band made appearances at events like the Dalton and Marshallville Halloween parades, Dalton and East Greenville Memorial Day parades, and the Massillon Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade.

Gerber got girls interested in band in junior high and helped them learn instruments where there was a gap. If he needed a clarinet player, for example, he taught one. Gerber was one of four directors the all-girl band had. He served for the first 17 years. Kay Rogers was there for one year and John Glauner and Charles Morton for two years apiece.

Back in the band’s heyday, things were coordinated like a modern band. Short girls wore shorter skirts, and tall girls wore longer ones, so the skirts all appeared to be the same length.

The band was invited to perform all over the country, at events like the Tournament of Roses Parade and in Washington, D.C. Money always became an issue.

“We couldn’t afford to go there,” Davis said of the nation’s capital, “or really anywhere. We were just a bunch of little hicks. We were invited a lot of places to march because we were different. It’s a fond memory of mine.”

Davis believes she is the oldest remaining member of the all-girl band, which she said scattered after high school like many graduating classes will. She has stayed within shouting distance of Dalton and Marshallville for most of her life.

With going on a century of experiences, Davis still counts her time in the high school band among her fondest memories.

“I was the first head majorette of the Dalton All-Girl Marching Band, and I was very proud of it,” she said. “I was a real competitor.”

She still will take in a football game now and then and likes to compare and contrast the styles of the days.

“We always did marching music,” Davis said. “Now they play all kinds of music. It’s almost like a concert sometimes. I respect and enjoy both styles. Ours was really marching band music, and you really marched to it.”