As his 82nd birthday approached April 30, Wes Peppers of Rapid City felt it was time to step down as director of the Seventh Cavalry Drum and Bugle Corps. And fellow musician and band member Diane Barker of St. Onge was happy to accept the position that Peppers has held for nine out of the 13 years he belonged to the group.

The drum and bugle corps performs for thousands of people every year throughout the Black Hills, including this Memorial Day at Black Hills National Cemetery. Deadwood's special events also are a regular gig for the group.

"Our musical repertoire is mostly marches, patriotic and Civil War songs mixed in with a little bit of novelty tunes. It is fun music that everyone knows and sings along with," Barker said.

The drum and bugle corps dresses in costumes to look as much like the Army as possible. Members are also assigned military rankings depending on which instrument they play. More than 50 percent of the members have served in the U.S. armed forces, but that is not a requirement.

Although Peppers has stepped aside as the director, he will continue to play the baritone bugle for the drum and bugle corps.

But he will have more time to pursue some other things that he loves, such as playing tennis twice a week and restoring old cars. He said he has entered five cars in national and international shows and has received a gold award every time. But then, he has always led a busy life. He has been active in many organizations and said he is proud to have been the president of the Huron Area Chamber of Commerce.

"I feel that I am one of the luckiest guys around. Everything that I have done in my adult life has been a pure pleasure," Peppers said.

"My love of music has taken me through high school band, college band, graduate school band, city band, 20 years in the Merry Tuba Christmas group, 14 years in the South Dakota American Legion Band and a small jazz combo," he said.

After college, he entered the teaching field as a high school classroom teacher and coach in East River. When he later received his master's degree, in addition to being a classroom teacher, he became a band director and a school principal.

He also owned and managed a music and electronic store for 33 years in Huron called The Music Center until his retirement in 1994.

And he said it has especially been an honor to have directed the Seventh Cavalry Drum and Bugle Corps.

As the new director, Barker brings 30 years of musical experience including leading her own dance bands in Montana, California and South Dakota. She is currently the music director for the Belle Fourche Cowboy Band.

"I've played in various marching and concert musical groups all of my life," she said. "I grew up with music because my mom and her brothers had a family band."

She has a minor in music therapy from Montana State University at Billings. "I feel music brings a lot of joy to the musicians as well as the audiences. I love all of the excitement of being one of the musical groups that play at local events and parades. I've always loved parades." She has been a member of the Seventh Cavalry Drum and Bugle Corps for four years and plays the drums, as well as the keyboard and guitar on some of the songs.

The Noon Optimist Club formed the Seventh Cavalry Drum and Bugle Corps in 1984, primarily as a social organization. Very few members knew much about playing bugles or drums, Barker said.

A retired band director, Art Niedan, joined the group and began teaching musical skills to the "troopers," she said. Two of the original musicians who formed the group are still playing with them - Lyle Freimark, a bugler, and Terry Williamson, a drummer. "They came into the group as musicians and helped those who could not play learn as well.

Williamson said he and Freimark have remained with the corps because they both like to play their instruments. "We have done it for a long time, and our other options would be to join other bands in town, but the bugle corps is a little different," Williamson said. "In the past, we used to go to marches and things like that and that made us different from other bands in town. We felt also that the drum and bugle corps uses a military theme of the late 1800s and has a flag line, and we felt the people liked that, too. It kind of fit in with the image of Deadwood and western South Dakota."

The corps is a self-supporting group and uses donations to help to pay for instruments, music, uniforms, transportation and other expenses incurred on the road.

Members range in age from 14 to 80-plus years old. Concert venues have been primarily in South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska. One member, Steve Atherton, comes from Wisconsin every summer to play bugle with the group, and another member, Angela Monheim, who was a trooper through high school and college, is now in the Navy. "When she comes home on leave, she always comes and plays with us," Barker said.

The group is seeking new members from high school ages on up who play or have played brass instruments. Trumpet players are especially needed. The group is headquartered at the Canyon Lake Senior Center and rehearses there every Thursday evening. For more information, call Barker at 642-4236.

"We can loan uniforms and some instruments," she said. "Having fun comes free with membership."

Drum and bugle corps schedule

The Seventh Cavalry Drum and Bugle Corps performs for thousands of people each season. Here is the group's schedule:

y 10 a.m. Monday, May 26, Memorial Day at Black Hills National Cemetery

y 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 14, Wild Bill Days in Deadwood

y 4:30 p.m. Monday, July 14, Canyon Lake Senior Center picnic

y 10 a.m. Saturday, July 19, Gold Discovery Days in Custer

y 10 a.m. Friday, July 25, Days of '76 in Deadwood

y Noon Friday, Aug. 15, wagon train parade in Deadwood

y 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13., Autism Dream Night at Bear Country

y Saturday, Sept. 27, and Sunday, Sept. 28, Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park

y 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3., Oktoberfest in Deadwood

y 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, Veterans' Day Parade in Rapid City

y 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, American Legion in Rapid City