The "Melody Maids" of Beaumont — Morals, Manners, Music!

Come join Austin Woman's Club for a lunch and learn about The "Melody Maids" with Jerry Conn. A remarkable singing group of high school and college women from Beaumont, Texas, who performed at U.S. military bases around the world from 1942 to 1972. The group was founded and directed for thirty years by Eloise Milam, an equally remarkable junior high school music teacher whose vision and dedication shaped the ensemble from its earliest days. Spanning three decades of American conflict — from World War II and Korea through Vietnam — over 1500 Melody Maids brought music, morale, and a touch of home to U.S. servicemen and women stationed far from their families. Their repertoire drew from Broadway, Hollywood, and the popular songs of the era, and many performances closed on a note of warmth and blessing with the beloved hymn "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You." One of Jerry Conn’s closest friends growing up in Beaumont was Bucky, the son of Eloise Milam — a friendship that began when the two were just seven years old. In 1953, the boys joined the Melody Maids on tour to U.S. military bases across California and Hawaii. Two years later, in the summer of 1955, they accompanied the group on an ambitious circuit through Newfoundland, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin Island, and Labrador. Jerry earned his BS in Journalism and Master's in Communication from the University of Texas. His professional career spans the full breadth of the field — from the trenches of local newspapers and the Associated Press to Texas political public relations and advertising, where he worked with candidates across the aisle. He also served as a journalism instructor at UT Austin and a speech instructor at Austin Community College. Today, Jerry brings together his academic background and a lifelong love of cinema, developing and presenting courses on movie musicals for UT audiences “of a certain age.”