2008 Daffodil Festival
Grand Marshal

Patricia Ritchie Randall

As we celebrate 75 years of Memories, this years Grand Marshal, Patricia Randall, she shares her memories of being the flower girl for the first Daffodil Festival Royal Court.  Miss Randall was only 5 years old when she was honored to be the flower girl.  She will participate in the Daffodil Parade as it travels through the 4 Cities which host the annual parade.

Below are her memories of the 1934 Parade.

Queen Elizabeth Lee Wotton  & Flower Girl, Patricia Ritchie Randall

I am most often asked: How were you chosen to be the Flower Girl?  As I recall, my mother, Virginia Ritchie, often shopped at Frank Porter's grocery store on Meridian.  She said that he was the one who asked if I would be the one.  I'm sure she was excited, as she made me a darling outfit.  A coat, green silk dress with cutwork and embroidery, and a hat and muff which she covered with daffodils the day of the big event.  I still have the dress, which I bring to official events.  Photos show the other pieces. 

I remember some things about the parade.  We rode in a convertible with a canvass top folded back.  It was a nice day, and I remember being allowed to sit up on the top as we drove down the River Road.  Wouldn't be allowed today.  The royal throne was built around the totem pole in front of the Tacoma Hotel on A street.  The hotel burned the next year.  "Pop" Logan was my piano teacher's husband and the track coach at PHS.  I was standing with the Queen when someone in the crowd called my name.  I remember being delighted to see a familiar face.  He had a movie camera on a tripod and, with his billed cap on backwards and a cloth over the camera, was cranking away, photographing us.  I wonder what happened to his film? 

I was told that my "job" at the coronation was to keep the Queen's train from getting caught on anything as she moved around the stage.  I scrambled around, conscientiously doing my job, when someone said that it was OK, I didn't have to do that anymore. I remember feeling hurt.  I must have been quite a spectacle.  

In High school, I marched in the parade with the PHS drill team and my Rainbow Girls chapter built floats.  A friend remembered that one year, the float was too tall to drive out of the building it was stored in.  They deflated the tires, drove it out and re-inflated.  

My mother, then Virginia Ritchie Hatch, was a chaperone for several years.  Her husband, Miles Hatch, was a daffodil grower from Alderton and my sons worked there in the fields.  I attended the Queen's luncheons when possible.  The Tacoma News Tribune covered the luncheons and Marcia Shannon, the society editor, always wrote up elaborate stories about it.  In 1949, I was given sheet music for a song, "O Daffodils", which was written by two Tacoma women.  I sang this at the Queen's luncheon that year.  I gave one copy of this to the Historic Museum and retain the other.  Clarice Humphreys Jungck was a friend and only in later years did I discover that she had been one of the princesses.

I am excited and honored to be invited to be the Grand Marshal this year.  I guess it's one of the benefits of longevity. 

Patricia Ritchie Randall