Silver Taps will be held at Texas A&M University Tuesday, March 7, to honor the memory of three Aggies who died recently.
Being honored are Alexander “Alex” Stefan Jones, a junior political science major from San Antonio who was killed in a car accident Feb. 19; Ross Travis Lightfoot, a senior computer engineering major from Silsbee who died in a car accident Feb. 15; and Ronald Thiessen, a sophomore computer science major from Seminole who died Jan. 26.
The first Silver Taps was held in 1898 upon the death of the university’s president, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, and it has changed little from that time.
On the day of the ceremony, all campus flags are flown at half-staff and a list of the names of those to be remembered is posted at the base of the flagpole in the Academic Plaza. Additionally, individuals are encouraged to write a short letter or note to the families of those being honored and place the notes in boxes located at the Academic Plaza, West Campus Library, as well as at the tables on the Quad and in front of Koldus. The family of each student to be honored is notified of the ceremony and sent a floral arrangement by university officials.
In honor of these students, the campus will be darkened at 10:20 p.m. In the darkness, students, family and friends will silently gather in the plaza in front of the Academic Building. At 10:30 p.m., an honor guard from the Ross Volunteer Company will march across campus from the Corps of Cadets area to the plaza, where its members will fire three rifle volleys to honor the memory of these students. Buglers from the Aggie Band, unseen in the darkness, will play a special arrangement of “Taps.” The tolling of the Albritton Tower bells will signal the end of the ceremony.
Free parking in the University Center Garage will be available between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. For more information, go to http://transport.tamu.edu/Parking/events/annual.aspx. In the case of severe weather, Silver Taps will be held in an alternate location.
For additional assistance, contact Student Assistance Services at (979) 845-3113.
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Contact: Keith Randall, News & Information, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu
For more news about Texas A&M University, see https://today.tamu.edu/.
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