Alumni Variety Show, We Had a Great Time!

The Third Houlton High School Alumni Variety Show was again a HUGE success with over sixty alumni gracing the stage with their talents! Those of you who attended the variety show can certainly attest to the fact that our music program has so much to be proud of over the years. The newly remodeled Houlton Community Art Center was the perfect setting for our show this year. From the opening remarks to the incredible finale, the show was amazing!

This year the band “Live Music” thoroughly entertained the crowd and served as the house band for the evening. Members Jordan Hill ’05, Ryan Hill ’08, Kevin Hogan ’87, and Brian Longstaff ’77, played a variety of songs from Billy Joel to John Mayer and everywhere in between. They even took a request from the audience for “Billie Jean,” and the crowd was treated to the moonwalk! The audience danced their way out of the auditorium at the end of the evening to “Some Kind of Wonderful”, leaving everyone in a great mood!

We were treated to several performances from a very wide range of graduates. Dave McGillicuddy ’62 and HHS Band Director Joe Fagnant lead the Alumni Band in our school song and several other pep band selections. Sharon Lowrey ’65 performed 3 numbers with her barbershop group, Border Harmony, which performs regularly all around the county and western New Brunswick. From the Class of 1953, Elden Bennett reprised his role as comedian to the delight of the crowd!

This year, instead of focusing on one decade for chorus, we decided to create one group, the Alumni Generations Chorus. Past chorus members all joined into one large group to perform “Java Jive” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” under the direction of Rebecca Dewan, HHS Choral Director with accompaniment by Scott Walker.  We were also blessed to have Gary Bossie ‘57 return to be featured on his saxophone with the Alumni Jazz Band in a performance of “Summertime.” Wayne McGinley ’65, really tugged at the heartstrings with his Elvis-like voice and really brought some nostalgia to the show while also making all of us think about Houlton with his rendition of “It's Good To Be Back Home Again”.  It’s always wonderful to be reminded of your favorites from the past!

Bob Addington and Ginny Ward Downey, both from the Class of 1958, had a reunion of sorts! Bob wanted to surprise Ginny with a special spotlight dance to commemorate their dance champion days! It was a wonderful sight to see them both twirling around our new stage with such grace as our Alumni Band played “Old Time Rock & Roll!” They still have it!

The highlight of the evening was our finale! We have a wonderful percussion ensemble at Houlton High School that we all should be proud of! Under the direction of Joseph Fagnant, HHS Band Director, we had 14 “Off Beat” alumni percussionists join forces to perform flawlessly! They decided as a group to pull out all the stops and take on “Walk Like an Egyptian,” a piece performed on many of the school’s mallet instruments. Then they wowed us all with a piece on trash cans, “Stinkin’ Garbage.”

This show would not be possible without the help of many hands. Coordinators Margaret Hill'86 and Joe Fagnant appreciate all the dedicated alumni that assisted in this event especially Dave McGillicuddy ’62, who is always instrumental in anything musical in Houlton! We were so fortunate to have Scott Walker as our accompanist for the chorus. Amy Hocking ’96 and Renee Wilkins Grant ’88 stepped up to the plate to help in gathering names and making contacts and also giving their input to the content of the show. Thanks to the class of 1986 for a strong showing behind the scenes from Todd Willard, Dave & Margaret Hill and Carol Fitzpatrick Hanson, along with Wade “Peanut” Hanson '87. Serving as ushers were Susan York and Leanne Hunter Faulkingham, class of 1984, as well as Heather Wilson Fagnant ’93 and Carol Fitzpatrick Hanson ’86.  

A special thank-you goes out to all of the participants, too numerous to mention! The show would not be possible without HHS graduates coming forward and giving of their time and gifts!  We hope to see our dedicated performers again in five years and also add some more of our talented alumni to the great event.

Dear Alumni

The Houlton Community Arts Center Council is proud to announce that a new campaign has been created to recognize an outstanding Houlton High School alum, educator, musician and community member.  Funds will be raised to name the David McGillicuddy band room as part of phase two of the Houlton Community Arts Center.  The goal is to raise $250,000 or more to assist with the future expansion.  The new band room will be close to three times larger than the current space and will have more instrument storage lockers for the hundreds of students that participate in the band program.  Much of the success of the current instrumental program is due to the work that Dave has done during his forty two years of educating students of MSAD #29.  Generations of students, parents, and even multiple family members have been taught by Dave.  “Mr. McGill” is still a part of the program and works with students of all ages.

The board feels that alumni and community members can truly honor his work by donating to the project.  There are multiple levels of giving and name recognition is available for our donors.  This is a fantastic way to donate towards phase two of the arts center project.  A donation form can be found as an attachment on this page or on the arts center web site: www.houltonarts.org.

mcgillsbandroom.pdf

Click on the link below to download the

McGill Band Room

donation form.

Alumni Band Entertains at HHS Basketball Game

Great sound and lots of energy are words to describe the recent edition of the Houlton High School Alumni Band.  On Saturday January 7th fans at the Houlton varsity girls game versus Stearns were treated to a performance by the Houlton High School Alumni Band.  These dedicated individuals gathered for one hour to rehearse for the pregame and halftime festivities. The most experienced alumni were David Flemington class of 1951 and Mike Clark class of 1954.  This year's family award was given to three members of the Sewell family: Jill Hutchinson Sewell 1979, Franny Sewell, 2006 and Liz Sewell 2007.  The band was directed by Joe Fagnant and David McGillicuddy and treated to dinner by the MSAD #29 Music Boosters organized by Michelle Daigle and Michelle Hathaway.

The following alumni participated:

Dave Flemington ’51, Michael Clark ’54, Gary Bossie '57, Bob Ellis ’61, Penny Saunders Nevers ’61, Dave McGillicuddy ’62, Jerry Riley '63, Brittany (Henderson) Benn '79, Jill (Hutchinson) Sewell ’79, Debbie Melvin 79', Fred Grant ’88, Jennifer Sargent Johnston '91, Hillary Ellis '96,Tyler Rowe '05, Matt Cummings ’05, Sarah Harbison '06, Franny Sewell '06, Liz Sewell ’07, Jerusha Benn ’07, Andrew Larson '07, Victoria Rowe '07, Max Rush '08,  Casey Faulkingham '08, Jennifer Beasley '08, Michael Libby '08, Stephannie Kreyssig '10, Ashton Carmichael '11, Tim Chase '11, Tyler Delano '11, Patrick Graham '11, Marcy Hernandez '11, Alishia Ledger '11, Chelsi Murray '11, Alexis Rush '11, and Brian Tuttle '11.  Current HHS band members Isaac Brown, Alex York and Courtney Bragan assisted.