2025 Mardi Gras Royal Court

Article written by the Houston Chronicle

Continuing the tra­di­tion of Mardi Gras court present­a­tions, The Knights of Momus – Galve­ston’s old­est Mardi Gras Krewe – presen­ted its royal court dur­ing the Coron­a­tion Ball on Sat­urday, Feb­ru­ary 22, 2025. Twenty-six beau­ti­ful Duch­esses were presen­ted.

Scott Kus­nerik was crowned King Frivol­ous CIX and Abi­gail Kath­ryn Doherty was crowned Queen of Momus at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galve­ston.

Foun­ded in 1871, The Knights of Momus act­ively par­ti­cip­ated in Galve­ston’s Mardi Gras until 1941, when World War II inter­rup­ted the cel­eb­ra­tion. Mem­bers respons­ible for reviv­ing the Krewe in 1985 were Wil­liam S. Cherry, Michael C. Doherty, E. Douglas McLeod, John Hutch­ings Spen­cer, Ken­neth R. Shelton, Vin­cent J. Tra­monte and James L. Ware. Dancie Per­u­gini Ware is the Hon­or­ary Found­ing Trustee and Joan Wil­li­ams McLeod is the Hon­or­ary Roy­alty Trustee.

Scott Kus­nerik is the Exec­ut­ive Vice Pres­id­ent and Chief Lend­ing Officer for Homet­own Bank Galve­ston. He and his wife, Mar­jorie (Mar­gie) Peters Kus­nerik, have two chil­dren, Fran­cis Mar­garet Kus­nerik and John Peters Kus­nerik. After gradu­at­ing from The Uni­versity of Texas at Aus­tin Busi­ness School, Scott returned to his nat­ive Galve­ston and star­ted his career in bank­ing while becom­ing very act­ive in the com­munity through volun­teer­ism, includ­ing The Knights of Momus.

With more than 30 years of ser­vice to the Krewe, Scott has con­trib­uted immensely as an officer and dir­ector, cul­min­at­ing with his Momus pres­id­ency in 2016. He’s served as a “Red Suit” for The Knights of Momus Grand Night Parade for over 25 years. Scott has been a mem­ber of the Galve­ston Island Rotary Club for more than 25 years. His long­stand­ing ded­ic­a­tion and con­tri­bu­tions were recog­nized with the pres­ti­gi­ous honor of being a three-time Paul Har­ris Fel­low. Scott has pas­sion­ately given to the youth of the island, serving West Isle Little League, Galve­ston ISD Edu­ca­tional Found­a­tion, the Fam­ily Ser­vice Cen­ter of Galve­ston County, and the Galve­ston Kiwanis Club. The Kus­nerik fam­ily has a long his­tory with the Knights of Momus. Scott’s father-in-law, R. Gary Peters, serves on the Exec­ut­ive Com­mit­tee.

In addi­tion to his wife, who remained a former Duch­ess, Scott’s sis­ter-in-law, Eleanor (Ellie) Peters, reigned as Queen in 1992, and his father-in-law and his daugh­ter shared the honor of serving as King and Queen in 2020. This year, Scott’s niece, Rylie Phoebe Peters, was presen­ted as a Duch­ess. His majesty, King Frivol­ous CIX, was joined by his ret­inue, includ­ing his son, John Peters Kus­nerik, Lawrence T. Gil­laspia, Mat­thew J. Hay, Dominic J. Ter­mini, Michael N. Tra­monte, and Ted A. Shook.

The Queen of Momus, Abi­gail (Abby) Kath­ryn Doherty, is the daugh­ter of Michael Mor­eau Doherty and Olivia Garsee Doherty, and grand­daugh­ter of Michael C. and Rebekah (Weez) Doherty and Michael and Con­cetta Maceo Garsee. She was presen­ted by her father. Abby’s fam­ily was instru­mental in reviv­ing the Knights of Momus in 1984. Her grand­father, Michael Doherty, one of the seven found­ing mem­bers of The Knights of Momus, serves on the Exec­ut­ive Com­mit­tee. He was crowned King Frivol­ous LXXXIX in 2004.

In addi­tion to her grand­father, Abby fol­lows in the foot­steps of royal fam­ily mem­bers, includ­ing Queen Rebecca (Bet­tie) Ashton Brown in 1876, Duch­ess Mar­jorie Peters Kus­nerik in 1991, Queen Rebekah Lee Doherty in 1999, Queen Eleanor Peters in 1992, King Frivol­ous CV, R. Gary Peters and Queen Frances Mar­garet Kus­nerik in 2020, and, presen­ted with her this year, Duch­ess Rylie Phoebe Peters. Abby’s Mardi Gras roots are strongly asso­ci­ated with New Orleans; her grand­mother, Weez Doherty, was presen­ted at Momus in New Orleans, and Abby’s great-great grand­father, James Gilly, was crowned King of Momus; her great-grand­father, Edward Gilly, was King of Comus.

Abby is a junior at Texas State Uni­versity’s St. David’s School of Nurs­ing. Abby has been a hos­pice volun­teer, find­ing her ser­vice grat­i­fy­ing and emo­tion­ally mean­ing­ful. Her favor­ite hob­bies are play­ing the gui­tar and read­ing. An avid trav­eler, in the sum­mer of 2024, Abby com­pleted a 500-mile month-long walk to the Shrine of St. James in Cam­ino de San­ti­ago, Spain, a route that has been in exist­ence for over 1,000 years.

The Knights of Momus presents the most spec­tac­u­lar of all Galve­ston Mardi Gras parades - The Momus Grand Night Parade. The illu­min­ated parade fea­tures colossal floats, dozens of high school and col­lege march­ing bands, and thou­sands of spe­cialty beads, doub­loons, and fest­ive trinkets.

Lead­ing Momus fest­iv­it­ies, Craig S. Kovacevich is the 2024-2025 Krewe pres­id­ent. This year’s theme, “Momus Cel­eb­rates The Emer­ald City: Mardi Gras in Oz” sets the stage for a vari­ety of Krewe activ­it­ies, cul­min­at­ing with the Coron­a­tion Ball chaired by Janet and Michael Wegner and The Grand Night Parade with Michael N. Tra­monte as Parade Mar­shal. Mar­jorie (Mar­gie) Peters Kus­nerik and Kathy Nor­ris Tra­monte served as Mis­tresses of the Robes. Duch­ess gowns were designed by Miwa Sakashita of Miwa Fash­ions in Hou­s­ton.

The Events Com­pany trans­formed The Galve­ston Island Con­ven­tion Cen­ter at The San Luis Resort into an eleg­ant Emer­ald City where nearly 1,000 guests danced the night away to the high-energy sounds of Danny Ray and the Atlantic Street Band. Continue reading at https://www.pressreader.com/usa/houston-chronicle-sunday/20250302/page/53