Royalty runs in the family: Illinois teen follows grandmother’s homecoming queen footsteps

Published 12:37 pm Tuesday, October 11, 2016

EFFINGHAM, Ill. — Five decades ago, homecoming festivities at Effingham High School included competitions between classes and the traditional football game, against rival Greenville.

They also saw a shy senior, Marcie Carpenter, crowned homecoming queen.

“I was quiet in school and I wasn’t prepared to be homecoming queen,” said Marcie, who graduated the following spring, in 1967, and later married and became Marcie Shouse. “I truly wasn’t prepared for the attention it brought.”

So Shouse could relate well with her granddaughter, Alex Denoyer, when she was given the same honor recently. The same sense of excitement, combined with nervousness, returned as she watched Denoyer reign over the Flaming Hearts’ homecoming game.

“It was a rainy night,” Shouse told the Effingham, Illinois Daily News. “We were up in those bleachers soaked, but Alex looked wonderful, even with the rain.”

Shouse recalled several special things about her homecoming night 50 years ago — including her escort George Shouse, who would later become her husband. He was attending college at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, but made the two-hour drive back to see his future bride crowned.

“I remember the parade and riding in a Corvette,” said Shouse. “I still recall who drove that car. I believe we were crowned at the dance, not at the football game.”

Like her grandmother, the latest queen in the family said the announcement came as a surprise.

“I was appreciative of my peers for voting for me, and for them being nice to me in general,” Alex Denoyer said. “I was very happy. I’m grateful.”

Denoyer is also a member of the Flaming Hearts’ marching band. Being a member of the homecoming court gave her the option of sitting out the band’s halftime performance, but Denoyer said she didn’t want to miss out. With her long brunette hair flowing over her aqua-colored formal dress, Denoyer took up her mellophone and joined the rest of her bandmates.

“It was our first actual on-the-field performance for a football game this season, because of all the rain we’ve had,” Denoyer said.

Shouse, reminiscing later with Denoyer about their homecoming experiences, said she sees many of her personality traits in her granddaughter.

“I have never liked to be the one in front — or to stand out,” said Shouse. “Alex is much the same.”

Schabbing writes for the Effingham, Illinois Daily News.