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NUMB Alums: Home Sweet Homecoming Although many marching band alumni have been coming back to Homecoming to march with the band since the early 1970s, the NUMB Alums were not organized as a formal alumni group until 1999. In less than a year, almost 500 people have joined NUMB Alums. Spurred on by School of Music dean Bernard Dobroski (GMu81) and director of bands Mallory Thompson (Mu79, GMu80), the formal organization of this group carries out the dreams of former directors of bands Glenn Cliffe Bainum and John P. Paynter (Mu50, GMu51), who informally organized the NUMB Alums in 1972. The mission of the group is to support the Northwestern band program and promote fellowship among band alumni and their families through activities revolving around Homecoming, the Waa-Mu Show and other events. The organization includes marching band alumni as well as members from all band programs at the University, such as concert and jazz bands. "It was very important to us that the NUMB Alums be inclusive of people from all the bands," says Pete Friedmann (S79), the organization's president and the band's announcer for more than two decades. Joanna Gwinn (WCAS66), a flutist who performed with the concert band and who is now assistant to the chair of Northwestern's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was thrilled to learn that she could join the NUMB Alums. "I thought it was wonderful that they included us," she says. "I auditioned for John Paynter's concert band and worshipped the ground he walked on." Contact Kathy Quinlan (1-800-NU-ALUMS or k-quinlan@northwestern.edu) to find out more about the NUMB Alum organization. — P.D.S |