Joy Cushman- The "Promotion" of an American Sports Icon- A TRIBUTE

The Master Coach has blown His whistle, and called His daughter Joy Cushman out of the pool. But what an epic swim it has been. At 97, Joy was well prepared, and spiritually ready to begin the next great swim of her tireless soul. She passed away at St Luke's Hospital after surgery to repair a broken leg, in the early hours of Sept. 22. She left this world displaying the same courage she once had as a Park Place girl during the Great Depression, playing football with admiring, scrabble-hardened boys. It was a final victorious exit after an impressive display of gameness and grace.

Joy Nell Cushman, just Aunt Joy to a special half-dozen Cushman nephews, (she called the “boys,” but this group included one niece) was better known as “Coach” to hundreds of Houston synchronized swimmers. She was born in Houston on July 22, 1924, the middle child between two scrappy brothers. Her swimmers would never have guessed her origins, or imagined the obstacles she had overcome to become one of the most respected persons involved in competitive swimming, worldwide.

Joy grew up in suburban Houston when families had chickens and donkeys in their yards, and kids played all day in the woods and caught armadillos and snakes and toads... and everybody gathered at the “sandlot” and played baseball or football. It was a boy's heaven. And Joy loved this hearty, sport-filled world and she excelled at the sandlot. So much so that her older brother confessed later that she was quite agile and strong, and could out-pass and out-kick and out-run and even out-fight any boy in the neighborhood. Strong and feisty himself, her older brother Ralph had been saved from a pounding more than once when she stepped in to even the odds, and finish what he had started. *********************************************************************** Joy may have been a girl, but she had the heart of a lion. But that heart finally succumbed after leg surgery, the second such ordeal in the past few years. It was ironic that it would be her legs which gave her the most trouble in her old age. It had been her legs which propelled her to legendary status in the sports world.

Determined to reroute her inclinations, her mother had challenged her with swimming, one of her own areas of achievement, and a more “fitting” sport for a Southern lady. Joy could already out-swim her brothers and her parents, and swimming competition would be far more rewarding than bruising the boys on the sandlot. The Cushman family made regular weekend retreats to the sands of Galveston Island where they owned a beach house, and that was where Joy matched her will against her equal- the currents of the Gulf of Mexico.

Joy learned and loved coastal sports like fishing, surfing and water-skiing. Soon she was trying a wonderful sport then called “water ballet,” at the Golfcrest Country Club. In 1939, water ballet, later known as synchronized swimming, was an obscure combination of dance, performing art, swimming, and extreme human endurance.

A handful of girls performed in a pool wearing rubber skull-caps and nose-clips, as they gracefully, rhythmically swam into aquatic formations without the ability to breathe half of the time, interpreting music which blared from a screaming P.A. system, but which they could not hear most of the time. It was next to impossible, and it was just the kind of sport that fit Joy's inherent tenacity and courage.

Meanwhile she developed her leadership skills as the drum major for the Milby High School Band. Grades came easy, and during her studies at the University of Texas, in 1946 Joy won the state championship at the Texas AAU finals, sweeping the Synchro Solo, Duet and Team competitions. Joy Cushman had found the love of her life.

When Texas oilman Glenn McCarthy unveiled the Shamrock Hilton in1949, Joy found her way to serious competition as a member of the Shamrock “Corkettes.” After realizing her dream, making the most prestigious “Synchro” team in Houston, she became disgusted and forsook it all. It was exhausting, and frustrating, even maddening, and just too hard. She could never please her coach, and she would never make it as a “Corkette.” Her parents let her vent, knowing that Joy was no quitter. They knew the pattern... all anyone or anything had to do was to make her mad, and it was toast. As her brother later observed, she had the tenacity of a pit bull, “...Joy went back the next day, and the next... and she has been regularly going back for the past half-Century.” Her timing could not have been more fortuitous. Actor/athletes Esther Williams and Johnny Weissmuller were creating a sensation at movie theaters all across the country, making all forms of water sports fashionable, and drawing particular attention to synchronized swimming.

Not long after, Joy was performing in front of thousands of spectators at the new, Olympic-sized pool at the gala opening of the “Shamrock,” where many Texas elites and Hollywood celebrities watched her transformation into a world-class athlete. Soon she was coaching the Corkettes, a position she cherished for 30 years. By following her first love, Joy found herself pioneering a popular women's competitive sport. As president of the National Synchronized Swimming Federation, she doggedly and deftly helped to negotiate the acceptance of Synchronized Swimming at the Pan-Am Games, and eventually as an official Olympic Sport. Joy amassed a staggering record as an athlete, coach, Olympic judge and chaperon, serving the sport for seventy years, and she has been recognized in numerous sport halls of fame.

To name them all would require doubling the size of this article. The plaques and awards she was given would fill up a trunk. And all while she worked full-time for Shell Oil, crunching numbers and helping to keep the petroleum industry flowing smoothly. Joy planned her vacations around her swimming events, and Shell gladly assisted when necessary, thus supporting the Olympic program, and sending one of their most respected ambassadors all over the world. That unique partnership lasted for 40 years.

Joy ultimately served as an official at six Olympic Games and eleven Pan-Am Games. She had traveled to over 58 different countries when she quit counting. And all for the love of the sport. And she had taught workshops and consulted with other countries in their formation of Synchro programs in Mexico, Japan, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Austria, and all over South America... The sport, the athletes, were her family, the loves of her life.

When asked why she never married, she simply replied, “I'm married to what I'm doing, and besides, no man would be willing to share me with my first love.” That was Joy's special brand of wisdom, and several men's loss, but the sports world's great gain. The young woman who wanted to quit almost before her life's legacy had begun, left a footprint on worldwide swimming and women's sports that few can match. That's because in her day it was about passion, not personal gain; patriotic sacrifice for a better world. Joy always said, the way to judge one's life, “ It's not how much you made, it's how much you gave.”

If true love is measured in time invested, Joy gave plenty. Not just to her family, to whom she was devoted, but to her swimmers. She had a way of being wherever and whenever it mattered the most. Joy always provided our whole family with a beach house retreat, to spend time together and catch and eat seafood, but mostly for us to stay connected as a family.

She loved to gather us kids in the mornings and serve us “breakfast on the beach,” allowing the adults to sleep, and making gnats in your Fruit Loops a childhood memory. Well, we assumed that she loved it, but either way she did it.

Joy made the best stuffed flounder. And cheese grits. And homemade mayonnaise. She was always there each Christmas, at the Christmas tree, indulging her “boys,” (actually five nephews and one niece) with super-duper presents that made Santa shrug. And she was always there to coach her swim teams to perfection and many championships, and there when the American Olympic Committee called upon her many times to serve the Games and our magnificent American Olympians. And so she was there to comfort her swimmers when the Games were violated with terrorism and carnage in Munich... and there to reassure the parents who were far away, and there to bring them home safely. When she finally got too old to attend the Olympics, you could be sure she was there in front of her television watching and rooting for them.

Love is about being there... and being there when it counts. Life was about relationships; And for Joy it was about showing young people their human potential, through hard work and perseverance. Now Joy Cushman joins a pantheon of great American women, who have blazed a weathered trail of women's achievement, paved with sacrifice, and marked with excellence, in the face of great odds.

Joy lived, served, competed, and died with a spirit that was indefatigable. Nobody uses that word anymore, but that was what she had. A tireless spirit. When she wore out her body, she just put another one on. And we are told that it is far superior... She was our general, and we are going to miss her at the command of the Cushman family, but we know she will greet her latest promotion with pluck, and adapt... swimmingly.

This obit is submitted by her “boys,” (yes, the female one was an outstanding synchronized swimmer) all of whom she simultaneously spoiled and yet personally supervised their introduction to the water, and the mastery of it. This eulogy is obviously insufficient, but one way we had to notify Joy Cushman's gigantic adopted family, gathered over 75 years, especially her swimmers, all over the world, of her passing.

We wish to extend our condolences to them, who like us, have lost an inspiring, irreplaceable icon in our lives.

George W. Durant: Father of Alvin; A video!

My video called The Pathfinders can be accessed by clicking on the link below... a musical tribute to George W. Durant by two of his descendants. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWhgGX4QNyU

The Party Goes On Forever! Happy 90th Birthday Aunt Joy!

Over the decades, the Cushman family has had many golden days on the West End of Galveston Island, and the most recent reunion was a long needed blast from the past- for me at least.

Joy and a few of her many "children." Photos courtesy Donalee Cushman!

A warm gathering to celebrate the 90^th birthday of our beloved Aunt Joy began to appear a day or so before the party, with relatives coming from all over Texas. This time we were camping at the Harper’s newly renovated beach house in Bay Harbor.

Aunt Joy Cushman, a legendary synchronized swimming coach, was always the one to take charge of us kids when we came to the beach house, and she always showed us a great time. She had put up a cozy beach house in the 70’s when we lost our first cabins to Hurricane Carla, and after it was rolled into a ball by Alicia, she has sponsored several beach house rentals over the years, always making sure we had a place to get sand in our toes. There was no better place to celebrate her and her life and her 90^th birthday.

Timeless scene of another generation of Cushmans (and their kin) discovering the ocean.

In typical form, Joy was on a plane headed to Mexico in less than a week. She has several families in Mexico convinced that she is a member of their families as well. She has spent many a holiday with them over the years, long since overcoming the cultural and language barriers and becoming quite the darling of the Pardos and others who love her dearly. Thanks to my younger brother Reynolds who has gone with her to make sure all goes well. The party goes on forever!

Cousin Robert and my brother Reynolds showing off Robert's swift handiwork with a gig.

ANYWAY, we had a great time, grilled some burgers, caught some fish, and Sunday morning ate at a great place near the Galveston Strand called The Sunflower Bakery & Café. 

OH MY GOSH! The food was over-the-top excellent and delicious, and I tried something off of almost everyone’s plate; crabcakes, shrimp omelets, blueberry pancakes, French toast, Belgian waffles, sweet rolls, (awesome variety of pastries),  ALL GREAT! And what a magnetic gift shop adjacent to the café! Sunflower is a MUST STOP WHENEVER YOU ARE IN GALVESTON.

We ended our pilgrimage to Galveston touring the old residential district, checking out a collection of a dozen or so interesting sculptures carved from trees killed in the various residential yards by hurricane floods. 

Leave it to artists to make beauty out of disaster. Some of them are quite beautiful… and some charming… and some “special”…there is something for everybody… especially dog lovers.

There is no place like home Toto, but Galveston looked great, in fact, it has never looked better. And after refreshing so many memories and catching so many flounder and eating such excellent food, I know my family is going back sooner than later!

The Story of the 90th Division- American Expeditionary Forces

 

A few of the 345th Artillery at Camp Travis right after enlistment, 1917

 

 

They grew up fast. Sergeants Cushman and Shaffer pose with 1st Lt Albert B. Cowan at Division HQ.

My grandfather Ralph B. Cushman served as a Regimental Sergent Major in France and occupied Germany during WWI in the famed 90th Division made up of Texas and Oklahoma recruits. He was officially in the 345th Field Artillery, but was assigned to the Headquarters under Colonel George L. Wertenbaker.

At some point he was given the task of keeping a scrapbook for the regiment. He used his own camera and made a few extra copies of the photographs which ended up in his desk in Houston. His camera and photographic skill were not the greatest... but still they made a valuable record for us today, almost one hundred years later. Among the photos and a stack of negatives was the following article which he saved from the Houston Post... which tells their story well. I have inserted his photos where they seemed most appropriate.

Sgts. Young, Gee, Garlock and Cushman in Occupied Germany, 1919

 

1919 Houston Post

Never Gave Ground Was 90^th Division’s Record

Operations of Texas’ Great Fighting Organization Show Orders Always Fulfilled- Campaign Is Recounted by Former Publicity Man.

The 90^th Division, composed almost entirely of Texas and Oklahoma men, went through the great European conflict with a record that was never surpassed, and seldom equaled by any of its comrade organizations. Not once during the great final drive into the heart of the Hindenburg line did the Texas lads hesitate and in no instance do records show where one foot of ground was given to the foe in the desperate, last stand to stem the tide of defeat.

Target practice: Lts. Garlington and Andrews.

These facts comprise the gist of a communication written by Major Ike Ashburn from Berncastle, Gernany. Major Ashburn was a former publicity director for A. and M. College and is well known in Texas as a newspaper man.  He recounts incidents during the great campaign in which the 90^th Division played so prominent a role. He skeletonizes the operations of the organization from the time the division first went into action until the day when hostilities were suspended. One of the outstanding features of his letter is the fact that never was the 90^th Division assigned to a task but that it didn’t accomplish the desires of the higher staff as desired.

The 90^th Division left Camp Travis for overseas service on June 6^th, 1918. Major Ashburn’s communication is as follows:

“It’s a far cry from Texas and Oklahoma to the army of occupation, which spreads itself along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers, “outposting civilization” as the doughboy says, but nevertheless newspapers from the two states have been filtering through to the 90^th Division as of late.

The AEF version of a Pullman Car...

From this angle it would seem that but little has been said and less is known concerning the activities of the 90^th Division since it left Camp Travis early in last June for overseas service. For that reason below is given, in general, a brief outline of the services of this division, which now with the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 32^nd, 42^nd, and its sister and splendid division, the 89^th, comprise the army of occupation in Germany.

The headquarters of the 90^th Division are at Berncastle, on the Moselle, about 80 kilometers southwest of Coblenz. The division is scattered over a large area, occupying 70 towns, most of which are between Berncastle and the Rhine and Daun.  Headquarters of the 359^th Infantry is about 50 kilometers from the Rhine, and is perhaps is the most advanced post of the 90th.

Men of the Texas-Oklahoma division are being given leave to visit Coblenz, and a feature of their entertainment there is a boat ride along the historic Rhine.

 

Left Camp June 6^th,

But back to the brief review of the division. As is generally known, units began leaving Camp Travis on June 6^th, 1918 for Camp Mills, where full equipment was supplied, sailing lists completed, and other necessary details for overseas duty completed. Practically all of the units sailed for Liverpool, and passed through England, though some sailed direct to French ports. In Liverpool the 358^th infantry paraded on July 4^th before Lieutenant Campbell of the English forces, and the lord mayor of that city. The 375^th infantry paraded in Southhampton on that date. Tremendous ovations were given these troops, as well as troops by the English.

A view for doughboys leaving the Jersey shores...

Through Southhampton to La Havre, and then to Training Area No. 14, a new area, in the department of Cote d’Ore, the division next passed division headquarters were established at Aignay-le-Duc, a picturesque French town near Dijon. The 165^th field artillery brigade was sent to the artillery training area near Bordeaux.

A small detatchment went ahead and landed at St Nazaire, France.

In these areas the troops underwent a period of intensive training for six weeks. On the completion of this training, the division moved to the front near Toul, relieving the 1st Division. The first unit to go in took over a sector on the night of August 19-20. The division sector extended from Pont –a –Mousson westward to Limey. Aggressive patrolling by night gave the division possession of No-Man’s Land, and that land soon became “Yankee Land.” Artillery was moving up and concentrating back of the lines, moves always being made at night, and positions camouflaged by day, and even the uninitiated doughboy knew that the feverish preparation meant something.

Capt. Willard Berman and Col. George L.Wertenbaker

 Held Pivotal Position

And then came the first American push- the St. Miheil drive. The 90^th had seen less than a month’s actual experience, but due to its splendid showing in that time and in the training area, it was chosen to participate in the all American engagement. More than that, it was given a pivotal position in the line. For some divisions the St. Milheil fight was nothing more than a parade or practice march. But not so for the 90th. The men of that organization fought over a stubbornly contested ground. German official reports on the St. Milheil battle state that heavy reinforcements were thrown into the sector attacked by the 90^th, and the defensive program carried out called for heavy resistance on the pivot to permit the safe withdrawal of troops in the pocket of the salient.

Air attack over Paris- unknown photographer

At 5: a.m. on Sept 12, after an artillery preparation of four hours, the division assaulted . By 2: p. m. all objectives had been reached, in spite of deep ravines, dense woods, barbed wire, steel nets, concrete trenches and machine guns. At one point the infantry was held, but fire from the 153^rd field artillery brigade broke the resistance. During the night of Sept. 12-13, the infantry exploited the success. One battalion in Bois Venchere encountered two regiments of hostile infantry. A hand to hand struggle insued, in which the enemy was routed. On the 14^th the Norroy quarries and the Bois de Pretre were carried and on the following day the advance continued until the Hindenburg line was reached.  On the 23^rd a raiding party penetrated that line, a feat accomplished , it is believed, by only one other division during the St. Milheil operations.

 

 

Continually Under Fire

Throughout the advance and the ensuing period of reorganization, the enemy from positions east of the Moselle maintained a heavy and continuous fire, which not only enfiladed our positions but came diagonally from the rear.

A ruin just a kilometer outside of St Milheil. Once the home of three enemy dugouts and a a telephone station, now reduced to rubble by the 90th Division artillery.

On Oct 10^th the 90^th Division was relieved by the 7^th Division, and immediately embussed for the Verdun sector. Before the last elements arrived there it moved forward as reserve for the 3^rd Corps. In the night if Oct 21-22, the division relieved the 5^th Division in Bois des Rappes.  At 3:p. m. Oct 23^rd, advancing in the midst of a tremendous artillery duel it took and held the towns of Bantheville and Bourrut, and the high ground northwest of them.

During the next week the division improved its position, reaching the Bantheville-Aincreville road and holding it despite the hostile artillery fire which veterans of Cantigny and Soissons state was, during this period, the most terrific they had ever experienced.

Enemy bunker captured by the 90th Division

On Nov 1^st at 5:30 a. m. after two hours’ of artillery preparation, the division again assaulted, encountering the best divisions of the German army. The fighting was desperate, the hostile artillerymen firing over open sights till surrounded. Our infantry was splendidly supported by the 75’s of the 155^th field artillery brigade. When the infantry was held, batteries galloped forward under machine gun fire and in spite of losses literally blew the hostile positions off the map. By 9:p. m. the entire Freya line including hill 243 and the town of Villers-devant-Dun had been taken.

 

Drivers for the top brass await their passengers.

The division pressed the pursuit, reaching the Meuse November 3^rd, and taking Wiseppe November 5. On November 9^th it crossed the river, and after a night march of 20 kilometers again attacked.  By 4 p. m. November 10th, Baaion was taken and our troops were fighting in Stenay, from which the enemy was driven during the night.

 

German biplane crashed into a barn.

The average advance made by the division at Milheil was six kilometers, at Verdun 22. The division was under fire from August 20^th to November 11^th, with the exception of 7 days occupied in changing sector; 75 days without a relief. During that time it went “over the top” in two major offensive and seven minor operations, not counting exploitations and pursuits, and was still advancing when halted by the armistice.

 

Victory Spoils Big

The division captured 25 pieces of heavy artillery, 122 light machine guns, 72 heavy machine guns, 903 rifles, and immense quantities of ammunition and stores. It also took prisoners, 32 officers and 1844 men.

Casualties amounted to 37 officers 1042 men killed; 62 officers and1257 men se[verely?] wounded; 123 officers and 4671 s[lightly?] wounded; 81 officers and 2094 men [?] seven officers and 236 men missing. O[f those?] gassed there were 17 deaths. Twelve hundred and four were evacuated.

 

Never Withdrew Foot

The 90^th Division never withdrew from a foot of ground it had been ordered to hold. It always fulfilled every mission assigned in less than the time allotted. It has had less than half a dozen “battle stragglers” charged against its report. Not only did it gain the objectives in every operation in which it took part, but it never failed to reach and pass the exploitation line.

 Trucks were scarce in France, and Texas country boys knew just what to do.

At the conclusion of the armistice, the 90^th Division was assigned with the 89^th (its comrade throughout the campaign) to the 7^th corps of the 3^rd army. As part of the 7^th corps, the division marched to Stenay, across Luxembourg to Rhenish Prussia. The 7^th corps having been designated as reserve to the 3^rd army, the 90^th division shortly before Christmas settled into winter quarters along the Moselle River in the vicinity of Berncastle where it was rejoined by the 165^th artillery brigade.

 

 Trenches where soldiers spent weeks and months at a time. This changed when the 90th arrived.

 

Command Is Shifted

From mobilization to the close of the campaign the division was commanded by Major General Henry T. Allen. Shortly after the conclusion of the armistice, General Allen was assigned to command the 8^th army corps. Command to the division then passed to Brigadier General J. P. O’Neil, who continued to command during the march into Germany as part of the army occupation. Major General Charles H. Martin now commands the division.

 HQ. for 345th Field Artillery, 90th Division, Third Army in Neumagen, Germany

As a final tribute to the work of the division, the commanding general of the 1^st American army authorized Major General Allen to publish to his troops the following statement:

In a recent conversation with the Commander in Chief, I told him that the 90^th was as good a division as the ___(three divisions named as given) and that he had no better division in his army than the 90^th.

A souvenir from Sgt. Bill Stalcup.

 

The 90th parades in San Antonio after its return to Texas
 

 

A Well of Information.

First generation Texan, Catherine Cushman, my Great Aunt,  at "Prosperity Farm" in Waller County, about 1917.

 

If you are kin to me, this is for you. If you are not, it is still for you. This is one great American family that you will enjoy. Maybe you came here by random surfing, or you have been searching for your genealogy, or maybe you know you might be in here somewhere. My father spent a large part of his life gathering this info, long before the Internet was ever a possibility. And too bad, as it might have saved me a lot of trouble! But this HAD to be done!

If you find something is missing, PLEASE forward it to me!

Anyway, this site is brand new so give me a few weeks to get it all fluffed up. I have NOTHING on the Reynolds, and very little on the Hamilton and Thomas Clans. Feel free to contribute!

I'm gonna be loading this thing until the story is told.... About all the folks that my cousins once sighed dispiritedly... "They've gone to Texas!"

The last born of Erwin and Carrie Cushman, Catherine poses with her papa on July 4th. She later became a nurse in Houston and married Louis Newman and they had one son, David.