There were lots of hugs and reminiscing about days gone by, along with photographs and memorabilia from five decades of a high school drill teams.

More than 100 former drill team members from South Kitsap High School, from 1951-98, gathered for the group’s reunion at the McCormick Woods Golf Course on May 17.

Event coordinator Joy McFate Lee said she was thrilled with the results.

“Everyone that was participating in the events were ready to participate and have a good time,” said Lee. “They met people they didn’t know and reached to people they knew in high school. There was a lot of connections made between different years. I don’t think people just stayed with their friends.”

Lee said it was a positive event.

“I was thrilled with it,” she said. “It turned out like I how it would be. To bring people back together and remember a special time in their lives and reflect on how some of those experiences played out through our lives.”

Former drill team members also participated in a “drill down” where a former member called out parade commands.

Kim Beamer Hardin, a captain from the 1975 drill team, reminded the group how to perform some of the steps.

“We had an area open on the golf course where we had groups practice past routines with music from the past,” Lee said.

She said there were women in attendance from as far away as Japan, along with Texas and Oklahoma, and Canada.

“We try to acknowledge that we all had“ success and struggles, and even losses,” Lee said. We’ve also have these common experiences where good things happened. It wasn’t about which group won which trophy. It was about the common experience.”

Lee recognized the drill team members in attendance, others that wanted to attend the reunion and those who has died by holding a moment of silence.

Fond memories

Teri Lyman, a 1978 SKHS graduate, said she appreciated the weekend event.

“I so enjoyed connecting with people that I hadn’t seen in more than 36 years,” said Lyman, who works for the Kitsap County parks department. “My most important takeaway from this weekend is that the bond and friendships we shared as a team should be appreciated and maintained to some degree throughout our lives.”

Lyman said most of the drill team members shared three years together.

“After those years of exercising, practicing, practicing some more, creating new routines and counting them out on the basketball court, football field or on the parade route — hours and hours together — and then we lost touch after graduation,” she said. “What we learned in drill team has affected our lives.

“For example, we learned how to persevere when the times get tough; understand how to be responsible for our own actions; and what the words commitment and dedication actually mean.”

Paula Oswald, a 1972 SKHS graduate, participated in the drill team for three years.

The San Diego resident was unsure she would be able to make the reunion.

“I thought it was a great idea, but I didn’t know if I would make it because I was up her two months ago,” said Oswald. “But after talking to my friends and Joy, it was the right thing to do, to come here and be with everybody.”

Oswald, who wore her old uniform with a pair of slacks, cherishes her time on the drill team.

“I member marching and dancing to the music from the band and cheering for our teams,” said Oswald, “Marching to our routines was great fun.”

Advisors reconnect with teams

Fran Olin, an advisor during the early 1970s, said she was able to reconnect with former advisors and drill team members.

“I connected with former members who live in the community that I wasn’t aware of and a couple who live on Whidbey Island who share a similar interest that neither one of us was aware of,” she said.

Olin got a chance to talk with Jim Mitchell, Mary Ellen Bond and Mona Southerlin — all former advisors.

“It was a real win-win for me,” said Olin. “Joy did a wonderful job in organizing from Houston and it was a real ‘memory-maker.’ ”

Mitchell, drill team advisor from 1972-82, attended the reunion and said it was great to see former members “all grown up.”

“It’s hard to remember all the members,” he said. “There was one of me and more than 300 of them.”

Mitchell said he can see the discipline and sense of accomplishment the women learned while on the drill team. He noted when the girls became a member of the drill team, it gave them an identity.

“When I watched them at the reunion, they’re very self-confident,” he said.

Mitchell, who was a choir teacher at SKHS, said he was “roped” into becoming an advisor.

“Our high school principal found out that the choir teacher at Bremerton High School was a drill team advisor,” said Mitchell. “The previous advisors didn’t want to do it anymore, so I became the advisor.”

He said the girls on his drill team were great to work with.

“When you ask them to do something, they did it,” said Mitchell. “The girls had a great work ethic. We never had any problem with the team going on overnight trips and going to parades.”

Pre-reunion activities

Seventy-seven former drill team members participated in the 66th annual Armed Forces Day Parade in downtown Bremerton on May 17.

“We had a great time marching in the parade,” said Debra Severson Aaron, from the Class of 1972.

Before dinner, SKHS’s marching band’s drum corp opened up the program as they marched into the room to an applause from the audience.

The day before, some of the group attended a meet-and-greet that was held at Buck’s A&W in Port Orchard. All former drill team members received a free root beer float, courtesy of the restaurant.

Lee said research helped identify about 815 former drill team members from yearbooks and other materials, along with connecting with more than 300 through Facebook.

She said part of the proceeds from the reunion will go into the fund for the SKHS marching band.

Lee said there is a lot of interest from former drill team members for another reunion.

“Not next year,” Lee laughed. “Maybe in five years. I am keeping all the phone numbers and email addresses.”