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The Longview High School Viewettes precision drill team will host their annual revue this month with the theme 性视界传媒淭he Real Viewettes of Longview High School,性视界传媒� and they性视界传媒檒l honor the first Viewettes for the group性视界传媒檚 60th reunion.

The 2025 Viewette Revue is set 7 p.m. April 24, 25 and 26 at the Mickey Melton Performing Arts Center, 201 E. Loop 281. The last night of the revue, the Viewettes will host a special recognition ceremony for the 1964-65 group of Viewettes, who are celebrating their 60th Viewette class reunion.

General admission tickets to the revue are $8 each, and reserved seating tickets are $12 each. Tickets can be purchased for each night online only by visiting .

April 26 will be a high-kicking time for the 1964 Viewettes. Several members of the class are planning to hold a noon luncheon at McCann Street Bar & Grill, 1217 McCann Road, to reminisce about their time together before attending the revue that evening.

The Viewettes perform during the halftime of football games and other school and community events, and they性视界传媒檝e become fixtures in the community.

Then and now, 性视界传媒渆verybody's really talented, and they do some good performances,性视界传媒� said Patsy Walker McSwain, one of the first Viewettes.

The Viewettes were among the first high school drill teams in East Texas. When they were established in 1964, many schools still lacked athletic teams and other extracurricular activities for women. But East Texas had been getting primed for a drill team性视界传媒檚 arrival for years: The Longview High School Majorettes, the precision twirlers that are part of the Lobo Band, had been around since 1936, and the most famous collegiate drill team in the world, the nearby Kilgore College Rangerettes, were formed in 1940.

Longview community members were thrilled with the idea of starting a high school drill team, said Pam Rotondo Jamian, whose mother, Helen, was the founding director in 1964. Helen Rotondo coined the 性视界传媒淰iewette性视界传媒� name to pay homage to the city性视界传媒檚 name. She was the twirling teacher for the Majorettes and the wife of Longview High School band director Dan Rotondo.

Jamian and her sister, Dana, were members of the first line of Viewettes along with McSwain and dozens of other women. The first group of Viewettes was comprised of a few sophomores and mostly juniors and seniors. Seniors who were part of the group are celebrating their 60th high school class reunion this year as well.

"We had seen a few other drill teams, and we thought that would really be fun because you could be on the team with so many of your friends," Jamian said. "There was no outlet, so to speak, for a kind of a girls team.

性视界传媒淭he drill team was something that we wanted to do with a lot of other people, and we wanted to be really good at it.性视界传媒�

The first Viewette performance at a football game in the fall of 1964 was quite a sight to see聽性视界传媒� or view, rather, said Ginger Griffin Cook, a member of the first group.

"It was really a grand occasion," Cook said. "It was the old football stadium on the south side of town, and it was just packed. We had support from all the families and the Lobos. A lot of the different people in the community were supporting us, too. It was huge.性视界传媒�

Several Viewettes went on to Kilgore College to join the Rangerettes.

Sixty years later, Cook still remembers the dance routine to 性视界传媒淗ello, Dolly!性视界传媒� a hit song by Louis Armstrong that the Viewettes performed.

"Every time I hear 'Hello, Dolly!' ... it's like, 'OK, let's do the routine again,'" she said.

During the April 26 special recognition ceremony, members of the first line of Viewettes will sit together, and a slideshow of Viewette history will be presented.

More聽than 60 women were members of the original Viewette class, and while some live around Longview, many live in surrounding towns or states, McSwain said. She said she hopes to spread the word of the event to as many first-line Viewettes as possible, but she and fellow Viewettes don性视界传媒檛 have contact information for them all.

While today性视界传媒檚 Viewettes will honor their predecessors, members of the original group have high compliments for those who follow in their boot-steps.

"They have accomplished so much," Jamian said. "Those of us who were part of the beginning聽性视界传媒� it makes us really, really proud and very happy to see something become so sustainable and become such a statement to wonderful values and the creative arts.性视界传媒�