WESTERN RESERVE SCHOOLS She's sewed up a place in fabric of community

By JoANN JONES
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN CENTER -- Thelma Hugli, a lifetime doer for pupils in the Western Reserve School District, can now also be a lifetime watcher.
The Western Reserve Board of Education recently awarded her a lifetime pass to all school events as a reward for her years of service to the district and its pupils.
She is the first person from outside the school district to be so honored.
She was surprised
When board president Robert Hermiller surprised Hugli with the engraved pass, he said he hoped she would use it.
"You're darn right I will," said the 74-year-old Hugli (pronounced Higgly), "You'll probably be sick of seeing me."
Hugli received the pass as a thank you for "exemplary service to the Western Reserve Local School District." Her contributions over the past 20 years include making cheerleading skirts, sewing pockets for pads into football pants, altering majorette uniforms and much, much more -- all free of charge.
Hugli, a grandmother of five, said her sewing expertise comes from her vocation of making draperies, which began when she graduated from high school 56 years ago.
Last month she spent three weeks at Western Reserve Middle School helping home economics teacher Karen Patterson instruct eighth-graders in making sweat shirts. They were large classes, Hugli said, and the kids needed help.
"I would stand over them to watch them sew," she said. "One boy told me he was sure glad this wasn't going to be his living because he couldn't sew at all."
Band help
Middle school and high school band director Nellie Drevna and her pupils have also benefited from Hugli. When Western Reserve hosted a band show in October, Hugli embroidered a throw bearing the names of the participating schools: Liberty, Lowellville, Sebring and Western Reserve. The band raffled it as a fund-raiser, making about $90.
Last year the band used a Disney theme for marching season, she said, and Hugli made Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes for the members to wear at the halftime hows.
Hugli, a 1946 graduate of Canfield High School, lives in the Jackson-Milton School District, where she has also done sewing for pupils. She got involved in the Western Reserve district because her daughter is a tutor and her two granddaughters go there.
When the two schools compete in athletic events, she doesn't know where to sit.
"Sometimes I sit on both sides," she said. "But my son-in-law from Western Reserve said that since I got this pass, I have to sit on the Western Reserve side."