ALTON – Norma Glazebrook of Godfrey has had her share in the limelight over the years and recently she was spotlighted once again as one of the parade marshals in the Alton Halloween Parade.
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Glazebrook, 84, and several of the surviving parade marshals of the Alton Halloween Parade came back to be grand marshals for the 100th anniversary of the event in Downtown Alton. Glazebrook was the marshal in 1961.
Norma was the wife of Robert Glazebrook, who Glazebrook Park in Godfrey is named after. She achieved fame in her youth when she obtained a national championship in baton twirling. She and her Piasa Indians drill/twirling team/color guard won a national VFW title in 1964 and a World Fair championship in 1965. Norma has always been active in both the Alton and Godfrey areas with community service.
She said it was “fantastic” returning as a parade marshal 55 years after her first time.
“I was sitting on the south side of the float with parade marshals,” she said. “It was fun, every once in a while someone would yell, ‘Hey Norma!’ and I enjoyed it. I got to talk with a lot of my old friends. I have never in my life seen such a crowd as was there this year.”
Riding on the float in the Alton Halloween Parade did spark Norma to remember the days of yesteryear with the Piasa Indians marching every year down the streets of Alton to the adoring crowd.
Norma marched in her first Halloween Parade in 1946 as a baton twirler and then in 1950 marched for the first time with her newly organized group, the Piasa Indians. The Piasa Indians marched with her each year until 1972 and continued until disbanding in 1975. She retired from the Piasa Indians in 1972.
Norma has had some health problems after a cardiac issue on a plane a few years back, but she is doing well now and still walks around her neighborhood and stays fit.
She said she loves Alton and Godfrey and has made it her lifetime home. She is an Alton High School graduate.
“My husband died in 1995 and after the funeral and everything settled down, my family asked if I would want to live in Arizona or Florida and I said, ‘Let’s get one thing straight, I was born and raised in Alton and this is my home.’ I wanted to stay here. I love it here. I was raised in Middletown on Brown Street in Alton. It is a wonderful place.”
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