NEW ORLEANS -- There are few people as devoted to and knowledgeable about the history of the Rex Organization as this year’s King of Carnival, Dr. Stephen Hales.
Not just at Mardi Gras but year round, he lovingly and painstakingly studies and preserves its history, often in a very hands-on way. Even as someone with close access to the krewe’s history and its most cherished memorabilia, he’s still not sure what to make of his selection as King.
“As the organization’s archivist I’ve collected hundreds of images of Kings of Carnival on the King’s float and I have documented and watched as probably the last 30 Kings of Carnival have climbed on top of that float,” Hales said. “So i’m very good at documenting it and collecting pictures of it. I have no idea exactly how that’s going to feel, but we’ll find out.”
His queen is Anna Eugenie Huger, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Middleton Huger. She is a student at the College of Charleston and a graduate of Isidore Newman School. She will toast her King at the Hotel Inter-Continental on Mardi Gras and then join him and the krewe at the Rex Ball on Tuesday night.
This year’s Rex is a familiar face to television viewers. Hales appears annually on WWL-TV’s Mardi Gras broadcast from Gallier Hall, speaking to groups and in interviews as the organization’s archivist, as a commentator at the Rex ball and Meeting of the Courts each year on WYES-TV, and author of a book filled with chapters of Carnival history.
“What I love is being able to tell Rex’s story and hopefully tell it well. Because it’s a beautiful story and it’s a story that deserves to be told. It is the historic anchor of Carnival in this city. Carnival and Mardi Gras have gone off in all directions, dozens of krewes, groups, a citywide celebration that I think our founders couldn’t have imagined. But without the historic anchor that isn’t as meaningful.”
Hales’ selection as king ends what he calls years of speculation among friends and colleagues, who always hoped he would be recognized with the organization’s highest honor. He says many times before he’s been referred to as a decoy king, designed to throw off royal speculation. “I hope to be a good King of Carnival. What will absolutely be true is that the realm has lost a good decoy,” he laughed.
Hales has been involved with Rex for nearly 40 years, since coming to New Orleans from Utah, to practice medicine. A graduate of the University of Utah College of Medicine, he is a beloved pediatrician who is on the board of Children’s Hospital (Louisiana Children’s Medical Center). He is also on the medical faculty at LSU and Tulane, serves on the board of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and is involved in many educational causes. He is a founding board member of New Schools for New Orleans, serves on the board of Metairie Park Country Day School, St. George’s Episcopal School, The Good Shepherd School, Sci High and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). His love for children and education is reflected in his leadership of Rex’s Pro Bono Publico Foundation, which was formed after Hurricane Katrina.
“When our founders organized the School of Design almost 150 years ago, the motto they picked – Pro Bono Publico, ‘For the Public Good,’ was intentional. The city needed help, the city was having a hard time regaining its footing after the Civil War,” he explained. “What they intended to do and what they did with great success was stage a parade, an imperial reception to welcome visitors to the city and make something of a celebration that was already ongoing in an informal way. That helped the city so much. I think post-Katrina our members came back to a city that was similarly in great need and saw great opportunity and what grew from that as we rebuilt a school system that had failed was Rex members seizing the opportunity to engage with the schools our children attend in this city and to make them better.”
Hales has been a leader of the effort to raise funds and organize volunteers for local charter schools and education organizations through the foundation. Since its inception, the foundation has raised nearly $6 million for local schools. The group awarded $1 million just this past year to 63 recipients.
As for his own family, Hales and his wife Nancy raised six boys and are the proud parents of 13 grandchildren. Two of his sons helped design the Rex web site, parade bulletins and other krewe memorabilia. “Many of the things that I’ve been asked to do in the Rex Organization actually address passions that I have - history, writing, images of history. And being asked to do the work in the Rex archives, I’ve had this wonderful opportunity of handling our history and collecting it and then displaying it.”
Hales led an effort to restore much of that history which was lost when Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters swamped the krewe’s S. Claiborne Avenue den, destroying priceless memorabilia. Hales and others found duplicate items all over the country and restored what they could, to house it in a newly renovated archival area inside the den. “That’s not a job for me. That’s a joy to handle that history and be able to assemble it, study it and share it with others,” he said. Part of that process also resulted in his book, Rex: An Illustrated History of the School of Design. Proceeds from the sales were donated to the Pro Bono Publico Foundation.
“I kept seeing beautiful images and beautiful artifacts and realized many of these no one would ever see these but me. And those images became part of the book.” “Carnival is a visual feast, whether floats or costumes or proclamations or invitations, there’s a wealth of glorious images and pulling those together into a book seemed a very timely project.”
This year’s Queen of Carnival, Anna Huger, can appreciate the artistry of Rex and Carnival. She has a great interest in art and is majoring in arts management with a minor in communications and art history. She has also seen some of the world’s most famous art firsthand, studying abroad in Florence.
“My biggest interests are art, fashion and music. I really want to head out to California and work in a big art gallery and then hopefully start my own one day,” she said.
At college, Huger is a member of the Delta Delta Delta (Tri-Delt) sorority and has a long resume of community service during her college and high school years. Last March, she was told she would have the honor of being Queen of Carnival and admits it still hasn’t all sunk in.
“I honestly never really expected that it would happen. Ever since I grew up I’ve always wanted to be queen, what little girl doesn’t?”
The Queen’s Carnival roots run deep, with members of the Merrick, Jones and Huger family serving as dukes and maids in Rex dating back to 1886. Her third great aunt, Bessie Merrick, was Queen of Carnival in 1901. Her grandmother, Eugenie Jones Huger, was Queen in 1952.
“It’s really interesting to go back and look at all the pictures and see how much has changed and how beautiful my grandmother looked,” she said. Her great grandfather, Joseph Merrick Jones, also reigned as Rex in 1958.
An aunt, Deborah Huger Valentine, was Queen in 1979, the year the parade didn’t roll because of the New Orleans Police strike. Anna’s cousin, Nina O’Brien Sloss, was also Queen of Carnival in 2013.
She will follow in their footsteps this year, hoping for good weather, a beautiful parade and the happiest of Mardi Gras celebrations.
“I just want to try to represent New Orleans well and the Rex Organization and Mardi Gras because Mardi Gras is such a fun time for everybody. And for outsiders, we want to just show how amazing New Orleans really is brings the whole community together.”