Pride of Oklahoma Performs at Burial of Marching Band Trailblazer

A trailblazer for the University of Oklahoma's marching band was laid to rest on Tuesday as band members performed in her honor.

Ellen Kirk Vanderslice was the first woman to perform at an OU football game as a member of the school's Pride of Oklahoma marching band. She played a cornet as she marched during the Texas Longhorns vs Sooners game in Dallas in 1941, her family said.

The following year, she was named Most Outstanding Woman Band Member and received a trophy, which she kept for the rest of her life. She also played a solo at her graduation. 

Following college, Vanderslice's passion for music continued. She worked as a band teacher and joined the Oklahoma City Symphony as a trumpet player, before marrying a pastor and becoming a choir director at his churches. She later learned sign language to interpret her husband's sermons and to educate deaf students, according to her family.

After Vanderslice's husband passed away in 1997, she resumed playing her trumpet. She performed in a church orchestra and went on mission trips to Africa and South America. Vanderslice continued playing her trumpet into her early 90s.

Her story inspired four members of Pride of Oklahoma, Preston Loeffelholz, Parker Huckabay, Cale Richardson and Seamus Meehan, to visit her home in Tulsa last month to perform for her. 

On Friday, Feb. 3, Vanderslice passed away at 103 years old. To bid her a final farewell, those same members of Pride of Oklahoma, plus additional members Bianca Discher and Ruby Fried, performed during her burial service in Oklahoma City on Tuesday.

"It means a lot for us, for women, and we're in Pride and it's amazing and she started that legacy. So it was a really incredible experience to be here," said Discher. 

Vanderslice's daughters were very appreciative of the performance.

"I think in Heaven, she got a group around and said, ‘Hey, come watch this! They're playing Boomer Sooner at the end of my burial!' So I bet she was thrilled with it and thought it was fun," said daughter Marilyn Kilgore.

"It's very comforting, really, to know that her story is going to outlive her life," added daughter Jane Thomas.