Shirley “Babe” McGrath was a member of the Emerald Cadets Jr. Drum & Bugle Corps of Rochester, (Irondequoit) N.Y. in 1962, the Emerald Statesmen in 1966 and 1967 and the Emerald Cadets competition color guard in 1968 and 1969. She was a member of St. Joe’s Jr. Drum and Bugle Corps of Batavia, N.Y. in 1970 and 1971 and a member of the Phoenix Senior Drum and Bugle Corps of Rochester, N.Y. in 1976. She was in the St. Joe’s Alumni Corps from 2009 through 2012 as an instructor and Honor Guard Captain in 2011 and 2012. She was Captain of the Honor Guard for Bugles Across America at the DCA Championships, and a member of the Empire Statesmen Honor Guard for two competition seasons. In 2008 and 2009 she assisted Darcy Davis in the streamlining of the WDCHOF induction ceremony. She later became the banquet chairwoman from 2010 through 2014. In 2011 Shirley promoted the idea of making an audio-video presentation for each new inductee to Hall of Fame president Bob Glovna, for viewing at the induction ceremony. Gail Langan and Frank Dorritie, with his professional background in studio-music production, secured the special audio-visual equipment and collaborated to produce the inductee videos. This initiative was one of McGrath’s more noteworthy contributions in modernizing the annual WDCHOF ceremony.
