Mary Wise who just turned 95 has seen many Tournament of Roses’ Parades in her 95 years of life, but none like the one she saw filling the streets of Pasadena, California on January 1, 2011. This time, Mary’s granddaughter, Shawnie Wise-Hawkins of Canyon Country marched with the Tournament of Roses Honor Band, playing her tenor saxophone.
Getting ready for the “Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories” Parade was not easy. Shawnie and her band, under the leadership of Kyle Luck, the Director of Bands at Pasadena City College, over the course of 10 days, practiced marching in Southern California’s torrential downpour and logged more than 26 miles before the Parade ended, including being the only band invited to participate in Disneyland’s Electric Light Parade. To encourage the Band, Tournament of Roses President Jeffrey L. Troop visited during a “wet” rehearsal and reminded them that before noon on New Years Day, the Band will have been seen by more than one million on the parade route and one billion across the globe.
The six-mile route down Colorado Boulevard, which also featured Paula Deen as the Grand Marshal, was quite longer than the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C. which Shawnie marched in as part of Canyon High School’s Gold Star Brigade in 2007. Nonetheless, Shawnie, a 2008 Silver Rose Debutante, sacrificed her holidays to fulfill the dream of her grandmother and her mother, Sunny Wise.