ANN WILDT

Class of 2021

QUARTERMISTRESS / CORPS MOTHER / VOLUNTEER / MENTOR

Cadet Years: Quartermistress/Volunteer (1968-1982)

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HER CADET STORY:

Mrs. Wildt (as we affectionately call her in the Corps) came to the Cadets during the winter of 1968.  This was when the once “all-male” Holy Name/Garfield Cadets were about to add girls to the Corps, in the color guard – a time when their acceptance was not automatic by all the boys. 

 

While our famous “Aunt Nell” was the Quartermistress and part-time mom for the “boys” of the Corps, Mrs. Wildt quickly became the Quartermistress and part-time mom for the “girls” of the Corps.  To the girls of the Corps, she was a counselor, chaperone, seamstress, nurse and “other mother” to all of the girls from the very first day she volunteered to help.  She provided sage wisdom of life’s daily challenges as if they were all her own daughters.

 

Regarding the uniforms - while the boys’ uniforms had snaps and hooks on them, Mrs. Wildt had to use safety pins to keep the girls looking like proper Cadets, and she never failed at the task.  She traveled with the Corps (much like Aunt Nell did) and became the go-to-person whenever one of the girls needed help with their uniform, or a personal adult intervention, or need.  The importance of her contributions to the Corps, especially to the girls of our Corps, cannot be overstated. 

 

In 1975, the Corps added grocery shopper and food preparer to her list of duties.  Can you imagine going grocery shopping and preparing food for 125 teenagers and a handful of adults?  Well, no one ever went hungry.

 

In the early years, Mrs. Wildt volunteered to help at fund raisers, collected donations, and coordinating Tricky Tray or candy sales. 

 

Each summer members of the Cadets would live at the Wild’s home.  There were times that the members would have their own finances and other times the burden of feeding many teenagers fell to the Wildt’s.  No one ever went hungry.

 

In 1977 the family deli was sold, and a large refrigerator and meat slicer was donated to the Corps.  The first food truck was soon born, and, you guessed it, Mrs. Wildt went from Quartermistress to kitchen manager.

 

Mrs. Wildt had two (2) daughters who marched in the Corps: Ginny was a rifle member (part of the 1969 “original girls” section, and after her age-out, a rifle instructor for the Corps in future years; and a younger daughter Linda, who started with our Cadet Plebe organization and eventually became our Color Guard Captain in the early 1980’s. 

 

A final quote from a Cadet alum - “She walked beside us in every parade and cheered us in every competition.”