University of Washington majorette and national champion with roots in Tacoma’s civic bands
Gloria Ellexson emerged from Tacoma, Washington, as one of the Pacific Northwest’s standout majorettes in the 1940s, with newspaper and archival references placing her in public performances from at least 1940 through the early 1950s.
One early notice in The Tacoma Times from Nov. 20, 1940, listed Ellexson in a baton-twirling demonstration at a local program, showing she was already performing publicly before her college years. By 1949, her reputation had grown well beyond local exhibitions. Tacoma Library records describe her as a College of Puget Sound student who had been named national champion drum majorette during an Elks convention that year.
Ellexson was closely associated with Tacoma civic life. A July 7, 1949, Tacoma photograph records her performing with the Tacoma Elks Band at Union Station as club members prepared to leave for a national convention. The image places her in the middle of the city’s public pageantry, not as a background figure but as part of the sendoff itself.
Her work also extended into University of Washington life. A 1949 item identified her as a University of Washington football band majorette scheduled to march and twirl with Nile Temple’s band. The 1951 Tyee yearbook later described Gloria Ellexson and Lloyd Stansbury as prominent features of the University marching band’s halftime performances.
One of the strongest surviving archival records of Ellexson is held by the Harry S. Truman Library. A May 5, 1951, photograph shows “national champion baton twirler Gloria Ellexson” performing in Seattle during a parade welcoming more than 1,500 soldiers home from combat duty in Korea. The image is public domain and credits Richard L. Woodcock, U.S. Army, Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.
Later references identify her married name as Gloria Ellexson Duboise, including Zeta Tau Alpha’s listing of 75-year members from the University of Washington’s Psi chapter.
Taken together, the record shows Ellexson as more than a pretty parade figure. She was a nationally recognized drum majorette whose career moved through Tacoma civic events, college football pageantry, fraternal band appearances and military homecoming ceremonies. Her story also helps document a moment when majorettes were highly visible public performers, often preserved only in scattered clippings, yearbooks and archive photographs.
National champion baton twirler Gloria Ellexson performs in the parade in Seattle, Washington. The parade was part of a reception for over 1,500 soldiers returning to the United States from combat duty in the Korean War. Some members of the band can be seen on the left. All others are unidentified. (May 5, 1951)
Credit: Richard L. Woodcock U.S. Army | Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
She came strutting and swinging into view with two furiously spinning batons catching the sunlight. She danced like Ginger Rogers. She did splits so gracefully you didn’t wince. And she made better catches than a pro-football end…. There was a girl who radiated her own sunshine.
University of Washington majorette and national champion with roots in Tacoma’s civic bands
Tacoma-area superstar baton twirler, Gloria Ellexson was the National Champion Drum Majorette in 1949 and could twirl a baton like a magic wand. Her fantastic skill and exuberance is the inspiration for this painting by Eona Skelton. High above McMenamins Elks Temple in Tacoma, Washington, Ellexson is depicted marching up the city’s famous Spanish Steps with the Elks brass band soaring behind. Gloria was a graduate of Univeristy of Washington and became a sought-after parade leader for marching bands all around the Northwest (including the Tacoma Elks Club), which opened doors for modelling in New York City and film acting in Europe!
