26th CALLERLAB Convention 
MILESTONE AWARD
Presented by Jon Jones
Our recipient graduated high school in 1947. Activities included cheerleading, gymnastics, basketball, & the Leaders Club.
She taught the football team & the cheerleaders to square dance in the coach house, attached to her home using Ed Deulacher’s records in 1946. She began teaching and calling at age 17. She graduated from Westfield College in Massachusetts in 1952 with a BS degree in education. She started calling with a band in her early years. She was married while in college and she and her husband could not find the type of facility they desired to conduct evening and weekend square dances, so they bought some land and built a place called ‘The Woodlands”.
It was a youth camp during the day and was used for square dancing during the evenings and on weekends for many years, in the Springfield, MA area. Many different callers were involved with conducting square dances at this facility, including the Brundage brothers, Al and Bob.
From 1951 through 1964, she bore five children. She never missed a birthday. She turned down bookings to be at home for birthdays. Gloria is the first female in the world to have called for fifty years. It’s almost 52 now. That in itself is a milestone.
She was instrumental in organizing the Springfield, MA Area Callers Association. She was involved in the forming of the New England Council Callers Association. She organized the Maritime Callers Association 26 years ago in “The House of Roth”. She conducted caller training schools for more than 40 years. She became an Accredited Caller-Coach the very next year, after Board approval of the initial, and she was the first female Caller-Coach.
Gloria is the only female Accredited Caller-Coach in Canada, and she is one of only three in the world. She has been active in CALLERLAB since 1975 and has served on several committees. Having been a caller for more than fifty years, it is estimated that she has taught more than 1,600 people to square dance. That’s an average of 4 squares per year.
She has made numerous presentations at CALLERLAB Conventions including her invention of the Kaleidoscope Squares. The Kaleidoscope was used in the Calgary, Alberta Olympics opening ceremonies. Gloria is the first woman to travel world-wide calling dances and conducting callers’ clinics and schools. She is the only caller to have owned a square dance center for her entire career. She has recorded on Top, Blue Ribbon, and the Sets-In-Order LP’s.
Over the years, she has been heavily involved in aquatics, directing and choreographing full length shows with swimmers. She coached the 1st place.
Synchronized Swim Team in the Canada Games. She has had a calling experience that involved some Lippizan Stallions. ·
The ‘House of Roth’ began operating in about 1970 and is still very active today promoting square, round, contra, country western, and line dancing. Gloria believes that square dance callers give of themselves much more than highly paid entertainers. Doing what we do night after night to entertain the dancers and to see the joy and fun that is generated. She thoroughly enjoys bringing joy into others’ lives.
There are many more accolades that could be mentioned; however, it would take another hour to do so. When you have the chance, you should sit down and talk with her about her many experiences.
Recently I was in New Orleans calling at Chuck Goodman’s Bar-None. All callers pictures are on the wall. Gloria was ‘slim, trim and full of vim”. She is still full of vim. Please join me in presenting this well-earned award to GLORIA RIOS ROTH!