“ It’ s grown into something we could never have imagined. I’ m so glad it has taken off and become such a tradition.”
“ Right away it was like we were back in 1957,” Soulakis says.“ All those years were just gone.”
She hopes Bethettes from subsequent years will also attend the reunion and share stories with her.
The Bethettes started out as an independent drill team in 1956. Both Soulakis and Allan wanted to try out for the majorettes when they moved to the area and decided to start their own club when they found out Bethel Park didn’ t have one. They first performed in the Telerama talent show and had so much fun they decided to form an official school club.
Soulakis and Allan had to recruit members, find a sponsor and create a mission statement. They begged other students to join the club and asked the home economics teacher to be their sponsor.“ She was a great woman but she knew nothing about majorettes,” Soulakis notes.“ We sort of stumbled through the process and ended up on the other side.”
She adds that creating the Bethettes improved her selfconfidence, having to convince the superintendent and band director that it was a good idea.
“ I never thought of myself as someone who could do that sort of thing,” Soulakis recalls.
The members brainstormed possible names and eventually narrowed it down to either the Bethettes or the Hawkettes. A majority vote decided, and the name has been unchanged since then. The girls also designed their own uniforms, which included a black skirt with orange lining, boots with black and orange tassels and a black blouse with white collar. The only part that’ s really changed is that during the 1960s the Bethettes traded in their batons for pom-poms. The group has even maintained the tradition of selecting two coleaders, which began when Soulakis and Allan decided to share the responsibility.
“ We just couldn’ t decide who should be leader,” Soulakis explains.
The two persuaded the band director to let the Bethettes march behind the band during the 1957 Halloween parade. In the years after Soulakis graduated, the Bethettes became an official part of the marching band, which gave the group greater status. The Bethettes have become much more prestigious and professional over the decades.
“ We were just concerned with having a good time and looking cute in our uniforms,” Soulakis laughs.“ We twirled and strutted and did all that sort of thing. It was a really fun time in my life.”
Ten years later, in 1967, she helped judge the auditions for new members and says she was shocked by how many girls there were.
The recruitment process has become more selective, and now dozens of girls participate in the Bethettes each year.“ It’ s grown into something we could never have imagined,” says Soulakis.“ Here we are, 60 years later... I’ m so glad it has taken off and become such a tradition.”
She adds,“ We made [ the group ] exist but the girls who’ ve led the Bethettes since then have taken the group to another level talent-wise. I was flabbergasted by how competitive it was and how much pride those girls took in being Bethettes. It really floored me.”
Between 1976 and 1978, her daughter Michelle became the first second-generation girl to participate in the Bethettes. Soulakis was very proud to see her daughter follow in her footsteps. As a parent, she had suggested that the Bethettes update the uniforms, but a school official rejected that idea.“ He said,‘ You cannot improve on perfection,’” Soulakis recalls. The Bethettes have become such an integral part of the marching band that they will continue to perform for decades to come, she predicts. In some families now, there are three generations of women who have participated in the Bethettes.
“ Bethel Park takes great pride in those girls,” notes Soulakis.“ It’ s like the Dallas Cowboys. The Bethettes are such an institution and they will go on forever.” ■
Bethel Park | Fall 2017 | icmags. com 49