Father Joseph Mark Hayden, who served the Diocese of Camden for almost 70 years, was inducted posthumously into the New Jersey Drum Corps Hall of Fame last month.
According to its website, this group “exists to recognize outstanding contributions in all aspects of the drum and bugle corps activity in the state.”
Father Hayden, who died in 2017 at age 96, was the founder of the Gloucester Catholic High School Belles of Saint Mary’s drum and bugle corps in the late 1940s as well as the Saint Nicholas Cadets and Christ the King Royaleers. Each was an all-girls corps.
“Scores and scores of women salute you, Father Joe,” said Maureen Carroll McLoone, Royaleers historian and former member. “He was ahead of his time in providing girls a forum for meeting the boys on their own turf and holding our own quite admirably. Today, there is an ever-present, very strong, invisible bond linking all the women who had the great fortune to participate in the ‘Drum Corps Way of Life!’”
Nominated by Carol Ann Schaffer Fallon, a former Belles and Royaleers member, Father Hayden was known as keeping a strict dedication to “God, Corps and family, in that order.”
“Vivid flashbacks capture the essence of this small in stature but gigantic in impact figure darting in and out of the maneuvering patterns at practice,” McLoone remembered. “Only 5’4,” Father Joe was a dynamo and radiated exuberance and enthusiasm in his roles as director and moderator.”
The Belles of Saint Mary’s and Saint Nicholas Cadets each marched in inauguration parades for presidents; in the early 1950s, the Saint Nicholas corps became South Jersey Corps League Champions.
“Drum Corps youth are marked with the determination and courage of fighting on, even when the going was sometimes rough,” McLoone said. “Members realize it wasn’t all individual work, but teamwork. … The cadets learned that success is not magic or luck or an inheritance – it is the personal giving of self to a worthwhile cause and common effort. … This marvelous character-building experience resulted in abundant lifelong blessings and benefits, and priceless forever, treasured friendships.”
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