An Incredible husband-wife team from Nashville

April is drum corps volunteer month on DCI.org. If you'd like to "nominate" a fabulous drum corps volunteer, send a writeup and a photo to content@dci.org. Trey Moore, Memphis Sound's director, submitted this nomination. Volunteers: Kim and Pat Bohannan
Corps: Memphis Sound Beginning anything new requires serious effort and commitment from all who are involved. You might think starting a new drum corps from scratch would require psychotherapy for all who are involved! But building a successful youth music program is no harder than anything else in life. It requires dedication, patience, the ability to act and react, and tons of help and input from those unsung heroes we call volunteers.

Pat and Kim Bohannan
Memphis Sound has been fortunate to have many hard-working, talented volunteers who have jumped on the bandwagon to see that we develop a viable program for the future. I personally thank our board members and parents who have been very instrumental to moving our train down the track. But two individuals, specifically, have sacrificed much in the way of hours, talent and resources -- Kim and Pat Bohannan. This incredible husband and wife team live in the Nashville area, three hours from the corps' home of Memphis, yet they never miss a rehearsal camp and commit all of their vacation time (and probably sick time) in order to travel with the corps all summer long. They put in so much time and energy that many members and parents don't even realize they volunteer it all! I knew Kim from high school and Pat from college, but I had not seen either one for close to 20 years until word started spreading about the "new corps in Memphis." One day I received an e-mail from them offering encouragement and their help if it was ever needed. The rest is history. Today, Kim serves as the corps' administrative and housing coordinator. She handles much of the communication that goes out to the members and their families. She organizes our "check-in station" at each and every camp, receipting fees and handling a myriad of questions. She organizes recruiting efforts in the middle Tennessee area, which includes a presence at area band contests and WGI events. And she serves as housing coordinator for both the corps while on tour and for out-of-town members who are paired up with local host families during summer rehearsals.

Pat Bohannan stays equally busy serving as the webmaster for both the corps' Web site and our local contest Web site. He does an incredible job with both -- and it's all free! He is also the corps' tour coordinator, planning all the various aspects of how we're getting down the road, when we depart, where we'll stop and for how long, etc. His background is in emergency disaster planning for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. I don't know of a better qualification for planning a drum corps' tour! In addition, Pat is a corps photographer, which is why I couldn't find a good picture of him -- he's always behind the camera!

Thanks guys for all you do to make Memphis Sound who we are! My ball cap and flip-flops are off to both of you!