Marching To Our Own Beat

In 1952 a new musical group was formed in Rockland. It was called the Port ‘O Rockland Junior Drum and Bugle Corps. I joined the group early on as a young eleven-year-old baton twirler in the majorette squad.

Sponsored by the VFW, the Corps was headed by Ralph Clark. He was our very own Harold Hill, a character in the musical “Music Man,” played by Robert Preston. Although Harold was much more flamboyant than Ralph, he nevertheless created the same spirit of togetherness and fun that Harold did. Ralph inspired us to be our best; to strive for perfection no matter what our role in the Corps was.

I say Corps because we did have a rather long name and it was just easier to say the Corps or the Drum Corps. We eventually had another name, which I’ll go into later in another blog.

Throughout my career in the Corps I was first a majorette; then a member of the drill team; then a snare drummer; then a sword carrier in the Color Guard. I believe our colors were first black and gold before we switched to maroon and black and white. The proudest pieces of my uniform were first those white cowgirl style boots I wore as a majorette and later as a member of the Color Guard; and the Shako (not sure if the spelling is correct) which replaced the old black WWII style helmets we wore.

During the winter we met about once a week up over a business on Main Street. I can’t remember which one. There was floor space enough for us to practice marching formations as taught to us by Ralph. I’m amazed that that old wooden floor held up under our in sync marching feet. In the spring we’d sometimes practice at the Public Landing or at one of the school ball fields.

My drumming instructor was Maurice Miller. I went to his house and he showed me the proper way to hold my sticks and how a cadence worked. I had a small platform with a piece of rubber on it we called the practice pad. I learned all the cadences we used in the Corps and how to do a drum roll. I must admit, my roll was not the best, but I tried.

As the Corps grew, so did its reputation. It was quite a change from the local high school bands to our high-stepping, fast-paced, military-style cadence as we marched down the street. We were precise and usually in step. If we weren’t in step we quickly learned how to double step to change into the correct step. Our lines were straight and we made square corners when we had to turn. We usually got groans from older marchers who had to keep up with us if we were providing their music for them.

We were eventually asked to march in many state parades. We also participated in drum corps competitions throughout the state. What I remember most about these trips are the hills. Maine has a heck of a lot of hills in their downtown areas. I think I’ve marched up and down every one of them. When I was carrying a drum up one of them on a hot day in long woolen pants and long sleeves as well as a cumberbund and a shako, it was not always fun.

In fact, we often had members passing out along the way, especially the drum majors. They had to keep up the beat for all of us and perform all along the route. We used to try to guess how long it would take June Grant to pass out this time.

We had a lot of fun though. It was good clean fun and belonging to the corps was an honor to most of us. We got to go on road trips and see a lot of Maine along the way. When I participated, the highlight of belonging to the Corps came when we went to Washington, D.C. to march in the second inauguration of President Eisenhower in 1957. That trip will be reported in detail in next week’s blog. Meanwhile, if any of you former Corps members are reading this, I would love to hear from you and to hear your own story of participation.

Do you see yourself in this picture?

This was one of our early end-of-the-year banquets. Over 100 people attended this one. From left to right in the first row is Wesley Nichols, Kathy Vasso, Linda Morey, Gerry Call, Kathy Henderson, Drucilla Martin, and me. Second row: Arnold Brewer, Sylvia Noyes, Gertrude Henderson, Linda Barrows, Bob Garrison, Louise Ames, Jon Call and Ralph Clark. Third row: Linda Ladd, George Graves, June Grant, Pat Achorn, Joanne Grispi, Alan Ames and James Sevon.

The trophy was presented to Pat Achorn, a tenor drummer, then 21 years old, who had aged out of the Corps. She did play later on when only the Color Guard existed. The plaque Pat received acknowledged her outstanding qualities of character, leadership and service.

We all received some kind of recognition that night. The boys got clasps and the girls, medallions. I don’t have mine anymore. At that time we had 10 drummers, 20 buglers, 12 color guard members, a guidon squad of 10 and two drum majors. I assume the guidon squad was the drill team, which I think I belonged to at that time.

I apologize to all of you who were members as far as memories of the Corps goes. After all it was 59 years ago when it was formed. I do have one question for you though which I hope someone can answer. Didn’t we have a drummer by the name of Jimmy Faverill (not sure of the spelling) who all the girls had a crush on? He’s not in this picture, so he may have joined later or have been sick the night of this banquet. I may be thinking of James Sevon in the back row, who was also not bad to look at. Anybody remember?

Thanks for listening.