Update courtesy of Texas A&M University:
The Texas A&M Police Department (UPD) today returned to the university and its Corps of Cadets a painting of Reveille I, the university’s first mascot, a piece of nostalgia missing for the past 25 years.
Prior to the painting’s unveiling, Asst. Chief Mike Johnson of UPD told a crowd gathered at the Sanders Corps of Cadets Center about how the 25-year mystery was solved.
The portrait of Reveille I was commissioned in 1943 by students and faculty. It was first on display at Cushing Library and then was moved to the Military Sciences Building (known as the Trigon) where it was housed for decades. But during building renovations in the 1990s, the picture somehow disappeared.
Johnson said on Dec. 2, 2014, UPD received notification that an online posting about the missing painting elicited a call to the Sanders Center with information regarding the painting’s location. The caller was able to identify the person who was in possession of the painting and UPD was able to make contact with that individual, who confirmed the painting was in a storage facility.
Several weeks later, said Johnson, UPD officers met with the individual and received the painting.
“Many times it is very difficult to recover items that go missing just days prior,” Johnson noted. “It is remarkable that we were able to recover an item that has been missing for 25 years.”
Brig. Gen. Joe E. Ramirez, Jr. (Ret.), Texas A&M Class of 1979, commandant of the Corps of Cadets, also participated in the unveiling ceremony and welcomed several esteemed guests, including Homer S. “Dan” Boone, Texas A&M Class of 1946. Boone was the editor of The Battalion in 1943 and was on the committee that raised the funds for Reveille I to be appointed a general in the canine corps.
Boone, who participated in the unveiling, was also involved in the commissioning of College Station artist Marie Haines to paint the portrait of the university’s first mascot, a black-and-white mutt whose arrival on campus 84 years ago is the stuff of Aggie legend.
As it goes, in January 1931, a group of cadets returning from Navasota hit a small black-and-white dog. They brought the dog back to campus to care for her, sneaking her into their dorm, against Corps rules. The next morning when “Reveille” was blown by the bugler, the dog barked, revealing the cadets’ secret. She was subsequently adopted by the Corps and named for the morning wakeup call.
Today, Reveille VIII is a full-blood Collie and the highest-ranking member of the Corps of Cadets.
“The enduring story of Reveille I still resonates with all Aggies and we are forever grateful for Reveille’s legacy and how the tradition of the Corps’ special relationship with the university mascot still endures today,” said Ramirez. “We are all excited that this unique and historic painting will be placed at the Sanders Corps of Cadets Center, once again to hang in Aggieland where it belongs.”
Original story:
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) _ A painting of the original Texas A&M University mascot Reveille I missing since the 1990s has been recovered.
A&M officials in College Station on Wednesday afternoon planned to unveil the artwork of the much-beloved dog.
School authorities on Tuesday announced university police located the painting done in 1943 by College Station artist Marie Haines. Donations helped pay for the artwork commissioned by students and faculty, then presented to the school.
The Reveille I painting disappeared while in storage during renovation of the Military Science Building. The issue was recently revisited in a news story for a Texas A&M former students group.
Corps of Cadets Center curator Lisa Kalmus says she received a tip about someone years ago seeing the painting at a home. University police retrieved the painting last month.
