Cheyenne Mountain Dancers - death in La Jolla
Tragedy hit the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers on one of their trips. On Thursday, November 4, 1948. dancer Tommy Collins died when he was swept into the Pacific Ocean near La Jolla, California. After telephone consultation with the boy's parents, it was decided to perform that night, and the show was dedicated to him.
The first item here is the letter sent two days later by Lloyd and Dorothy Shaw to the parents of all the children in the group, explaining in Dorothy Shaw's eloquent prose what had happened that day.
Among the dancers in the group that year were Barb Simmons and her younger brother, Bill. Barb's November 4 letter to her parents is especially poignant.She writes, "I was up with him for 3 nights in a row, dinner and 2 movies and the dance deal we went to last night. in fact I had been sitting with him on the bus all morning, until we got out to run down by the waves and the rocks. He asked me to go to the senior dance with him (the Friday after we get home)...."
She gives her own detailed explanation of the day's events: "I guess you've heard the story of how it all happened but I wanted to tell you anyway," and her postscript notes, "Pardon the tear blots can't seem to help it."
The other letters from Bill and Barb, from before and after this event, are included to give a sense of the personality of two of the dancers. It's easy to look with awe at the Cheyenne troupe from a distance, but seventy years later, these letters home remind us that these were just a group of high school students with the thoughts and emotions one might expect.
A search for "Cheyenne Mountain Dancers" will bring up numerous articles and photographs about this group.
Subjects: Transitional/Western 1940s
Tags: Barb Simmons, Bill Simmons, Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, Dorothy Shaw, drowning, Lloyd Shaw, Tommy Collins
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Cheyenne Mountain Dancers - typical program |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Cheyenne Mountain Dancers - Star by the Right |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Cheyenne Mountain Dancers - Split Ring Hash |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Cheyenne Mountain Dancers - Docey-Doe Hoedown |
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The first item here is the letter sent two days later by Lloyd and Dorothy Shaw to the parents of all the children in the group, explaining in Dorothy Shaw's eloquent prose what had happened that day.
Among the dancers in the group that year were Barb Simmons and her younger brother, Bill. Barb's November 4 letter to her parents is especially poignant.She writes, "I was up with him for 3 nights in a row, dinner and 2 movies and the dance deal we went to last night. in fact I had been sitting with him on the bus all morning, until we got out to run down by the waves and the rocks. He asked me to go to the senior dance with him (the Friday after we get home)...."
She gives her own detailed explanation of the day's events: "I guess you've heard the story of how it all happened but I wanted to tell you anyway," and her postscript notes, "Pardon the tear blots can't seem to help it."
The other letters from Bill and Barb, from before and after this event, are included to give a sense of the personality of two of the dancers. It's easy to look with awe at the Cheyenne troupe from a distance, but seventy years later, these letters home remind us that these were just a group of high school students with the thoughts and emotions one might expect.
A search for "Cheyenne Mountain Dancers" will bring up numerous articles and photographs about this group.