ZEFTA LOYAL
SEPTEMBER 23, 1916 – APRIL 26, 1996
Beloved Mother of Dolly and Gina
Original Loyal Repensky Troupe
The Showmen’s Rest section of the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma, is the final resting place for some of the most celebrated circus performers to perform under the Big Top—none any more talented and fearless than Zefta Loyal, a fifth-generation circus entertainer.
Zefta was born into the storied Loyal family. Her father was French-born Jules Loyal and her mother was Italian-born Stella Travaglia. The Loyals could trace their circus history as far back as the early 1790s.
Zefta was part of the Loyal-Repensky Troupe which was billed as the “Greatest Equestrian Act Ever Presented” and debuted their equestrian act at the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1932.
The Loyal family’s Ringling act was marked by an unusual seven-person pyramid based on five galloping horses, with four post riders supported by three top-mounters displaying amazing horsemanship, precision, and balance. And even through Zefta was a tiny woman, she performed these dazzling feats and others as a member of the troupe.
According to the Monday, November 19, 1956, edition of the Tampa Bay Times, “… Zefta [was] a circus performer though and through … she started riding on a horse at age 3 and made her first show appearance at the ripe young age of 5.” They further reported Zefta’s brother Guistino, “does a somersault from one moving horse to another. … Zefta also … mastered this somersault feat in addition to making a complete turn on one single moving horse.”
Zefta dressed in sequenced elegance, stitched and sewn by Zefta herself, casting sparklets of light as she performed daring and fearless feats on the backs of horses galloping under the Big Top. She loved to perform and as reported in the Tampa Bay Times, “The more crowd we have – the better we perform … cheering people give you zip and pep,” confided Zefta.
The Sunday, April 28, 1996, edition of the Kilgore News Herald, Kilgore, Texas, announced her passing. Among many tributes to her audacious talent as a circus performer, they mentioned her feat as “the only woman to do a summer sault from one horse to another horse. She was a bareback rider for the Loyal Repensky Troupe for Ringling Brothers [and] was inducted into the Circle of Fame in Saint Armons Key in Sarasota, Florida.”
In addition to her fame as a bareback rider, Zefta is remembered as a mother of two daughters, Mrs. Danny (Dollie) Pirtle of Henderson and Mrs. Gina Bowman Priddy of Austin; grandmother of five grandchildren and great-grandmother of three great-grandchildren—her legacy wasn’t confined to the circus.
