Silver Taps To Be Held Tuesday, Oct. 4 For Two Deceased Aggies

The memories of two recently deceased Texas A&M students will be honored during the university’s solemn Silver Taps ceremony Tuesday (Oct. 4).

The deceased students for whom Silver Taps will be held are Alannah Rose Ritch, a senior from San Marcos who was majoring in psychology and who died Sept. 8, and Maricarmen Quiroz-Octaviano, a senior from Austin who was majoring in genetics and who died Sept. 17.

To honor the memory of these students, the campus will be darkened at 10:20 p.m. In silence, students, family and friends will gather in the plaza in front of the Academic Building. An honor guard from the Corps of Cadets’ Ross Volunteer Company will march across campus to the plaza, where its members will fire three rifle volleys. Buglers from the Aggie Band will play a special arrangement of “Taps.” The tolling of the Albritton Tower bells will signal the end of the ceremony.

Silver Taps is held on the first Tuesday of any month during the regular school year when there has been one or more student deaths during the preceding month or since the last Silver Taps ceremony was held.

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.

The solemn ceremony dates back to 1898, when it was first held upon the death of the university’s president, Lawrence Sullivan Ross. The ceremony has changed little since that time. A box where students may place written condolences is located near the statue of Ross in the Academic Plaza. These condolences, along with a flower arrangement, are sent to the family or families of those being remembered.

For more information about the Silver Taps ceremony, go to: http://studentlife.tamu.edu/sas.silvertaps.